Jing-Ke Weng, Yi Li, Huaping Mo, Clint Chapple
Department of Biochemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
Science (New York, N.Y.) 2012 Aug 24Plants possess arrays of functionally diverse specialized metabolites, many of which are distributed taxonomically. Here, we describe the evolution of a class of substituted α-pyrone metabolites in Arabidopsis, which we have named arabidopyrones. The biosynthesis of arabidopyrones requires a cytochrome P450 enzyme (CYP84A4) to generate the catechol-substituted substrate for an extradiol ring-cleavage dioxygenase (AtLigB). Unlike other ring-cleavage-derived plant metabolites made from tyrosine, arabidopyrones are instead derived from phenylalanine through the early steps of phenylpropanoid metabolism. Whereas CYP84A4, an Arabidopsis-specific paralog of the lignin-biosynthetic enzyme CYP84A1, has neofunctionalized relative to its ancestor, AtLigB homologs are widespread among land plants and many bacteria. This study exemplifies the rapid evolution of a biochemical pathway formed by the addition of a new biological activity into an existing metabolic infrastructure.
Jing-Ke Weng, Yi Li, Huaping Mo, Clint Chapple. Assembly of an evolutionarily new pathway for α-pyrone biosynthesis in Arabidopsis. Science (New York, N.Y.). 2012 Aug 24;337(6097):960-4
PMID: 22923580
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