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ABSTRACT The plant shikimate pathway directs a significant portion of photosynthetically assimilated carbon into the downstream biosynthetic pathways of aromatic amino acids (AAA) and aromatic natural products. 3‐Deoxy‐d‐arabino‐heptulosonate 7‐phosphate (DAHP) synthase (hereafter DHS) catalyzes the first step of the shikimate pathway, playing a critical role in controlling the carbon flux from central carbon metabolism into the AAA biosynthesis. Previous biochemical studies suggested the presence of manganese‐ and cobalt‐dependent DHS enzymes (DHS‐Mn and DHS‐Co, respectively) in various plant species. Unlike well‐studied DHS‐Mn, however, the identity of DHS‐Co is still unknown. Here, we show that all three DHS isoforms ofArabidopsis thalianaexhibit both DHS‐Mn and DHS‐Co activities in vitro. A phylogenetic analysis of various DHS orthologs and related sequences showed that Arabidopsis 3‐deoxy‐D‐manno‐octulosonate‐8‐phosphate synthase (KDOPS) proteins were closely related to microbial Type I DHSs. Despite their sequence similarity, these Arabidopsis KDOPS proteins showed no DHS activity. Meanwhile, optimization of the DHS assay conditions led to the successful detection of DHS‐Co activity from Arabidopsis DHS recombinant proteins. Compared with DHS‐Mn, DHS‐Co activity displayed the same redox dependency but distinct optimal pH and cofactor sensitivity. Our work provides biochemical evidence that the DHS isoforms of Arabidopsis possess DHS‐Co activity.
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Role of cytosolic, tyrosine‐insensitive prephenate dehydrogenase in Medicago truncatula
Abstract l‐Tyrosine (Tyr) is an aromatic amino acid synthesized de novo in plants and microbes downstream of the shikimate pathway. In plants, Tyr and a Tyr pathway intermediate, 4‐hydroxyphenylpyruvate (HPP), are precursors to numerous specialized metabolites, which are crucial for plant and human health. Tyr is synthesized in the plastids by a TyrA family enzyme, arogenate dehydrogenase (ADH/TyrAa), which is feedback inhibited by Tyr. Additionally, many legumes possess prephenate dehydrogenases (PDH/TyrAp), which are insensitive to Tyr and localized to the cytosol. Yet the role of PDH enzymes in legumes is currently unknown. This study isolated and characterizedTnt1‐transposon mutants ofMtPDH1(pdh1) inMedicago truncatulato investigate PDH function. The pdh1mutants lackedPDHtranscript and PDH activity, and displayed little aberrant morphological phenotypes under standard growth conditions, providing genetic evidence thatMtPDH1is responsible for the PDH activity detected inM. truncatula. Though plant PDH enzymes and activity have been specifically found in legumes, nodule number and nitrogenase activity ofpdh1 mutants were not significantly reduced compared with wild‐type (Wt) during symbiosis with nitrogen‐fixing bacteria. Although Tyr levels were not significantly different between Wt and mutants under standard conditions, when carbon flux was increased by shikimate precursor feeding, mutants accumulated significantly less Tyr than Wt. These data suggest that MtPDH1 is involved in Tyr biosynthesis when the shikimate pathway is stimulated and possibly linked to unidentified legume‐specific specialized metabolism.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1354971
- PAR ID:
- 10147941
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Plant Direct
- Volume:
- 4
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 2475-4455
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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