Dehydroquinate pathway 9-

The initial step in the pathway is the condensation of erythrose-4-phosphale with phosphoenolpyruvate, yielding dehydroquinic acid, which by elimination of the elements of water affords dehydroshikimic acid reduction of the 3-keto group to hydroxyl gives shikimic acid. 

Dehydroquinic acid and [l,6-14C]-D-shikimic acid methyl ester were not incorporated, indicating a very early branch from the shikimate pathway. The intermediacy of 4-amino-3,4-dideoxy-D-araf>ino-heptulosonic acid 7-phosphate (37) was proposed, consistent with later findings on the role of the variant aminoshikimate pathway [94]. 

Figure 1. Schematic outline of various products and associated enzymes from the shikimate and phenolic pathways in plants (and some microorganisms). Enzymes (1) 3-deoxy-2-oxo-D-arabino-heptulosate-7-phosphate synthase (2) 5-dehydroquinate synthase (3) shikimate dehydrogenase (4) shikimate kinase (5) 5-enol-pyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (6) chorismate synthase (7) chorismate mutase (8) prephenate dehydrogenase (9) tyrosine aminotransferase (10) prephenate dehydratase (11) phenylalanine aminotransferase (12) anthranilate synthase (13) tryptophan synthase (14) phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (15) tyrosine ammonia-lyase and (16) polyphenol oxidase. (From ACS Symposium Series No. 181, 1982) (62).

The shikimate pathway begins with a coupling of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) and D-erythrose 4-phosphate to give the seven-carbon 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulo-sonic acid 7-phosphate (DAHP) through an aldol-type condensation. Elimination of phosphoric acid from DAHP, followed by an intramolecular aldol reaction, generates the first carbocyclic intermediate, 3-dehydroquinic acid. Shikimic acid (394) is... 

Figure 3. Hypothetical alternative enzyme path between 3-dehydroquinate and shikimate. A reversed order of the dehydratase and dehydrogenase steps of the classical pathway (top) would produce the quinate route (bottom).

Quinic acid, a compound accumulated by many green plants, can be formed by reduction of 3-dehy-droquinate (Eq. 25-2) in both plants and bacteria. Quinic acid can be converted into useful industrial products such as benzoquinone and hydroquinone, and its production by bacteria provides a convenient route to these compounds.168 In the main shikimate pathway 3-dehydroquinate is dehydrated to 3-dehydroshikimate (Eq. 25-3). The latter can be dehydrated... 

The shikimate pathway is common to both plants and microorganisms (Figure 3-3). Shikimate is synthesized from the substrates phosphoewo/pyruvate (3.9) and erythrose 4-phosphate (3.17). These two precursors are derived from glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway, respectively, and are condensed to 3-deoxy-D-ara6/ o-heptulosonate 7-phosphate (DAHP 3.18) by the enzyme DAHP synthase. The subsequent steps result in the formation of 3-dehydro-quinate (3.19) by the enzyme 3-dehydroquinate synthase, 3-dehydroshikimate... 

FIGURE 3.2 The common aromatic pathway to chorismate in Escherichia coli K12, where 5 is phosphoe-nolpyruvate, 6 is erythrose 4-phosphate, 7 is 3-deoxy-D-arabinoheptulose 7-phosphate, 8 is 3-dehydroquinic acid, 9 is 3-dehydroshikimic acid, 10 is shikimic acid, 11 is shikimic acid 3-phosphate, and 12 is 5-enolpyru-vylshikimic acid 3-phosphate. 

Scheme 6.4.1. The shikimate biosynthetic pathway. The enzymes involved are (1) 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate synthase, (2) dehydroquinate synthase, (3) 5-...

This product is dehydroquinic acid and is an intermediate on the way to shikimic acid. It is also in equilibrium with quinic acid, which is not an intermediate on the pathway but which appears in some natural products like the coffee ester caffeyl quinic acid. 

Brief mention has already been made in Section II concerning the conversion of 5-dehydroquinate (X) to 5-dehydroshikimate (IX), and of IX to shikimate. This was the first sequence of the pathway to be elucidated, and it is an excellent illustration of the methods made possible by the use of the penicillin technique for the isolation of bacterial auxotrophs. ... 

Davis concluded that shikimic acid was a common precursor of phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, p-aminobenzoic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and an unknown sixth factor, and he next set out to determine other substances lying on the biosynthetic pathway. The various mutants were therefore tested for syntrophism, i.e., for the ability of one mutant to produce a substance necessary for the growth of another mutant. There was thus found a thermolabile substance, X, which was a true precursor of shikimic acid (184). X was isolated from culture filtrates and identified as 5-dehydroshikimic acid (744). Similar experiments revealed a substance, W, which was a true precursor of substance X (187, 193). This also was isolated and shown to be 5-dehydroquinic acid (906). The enzyme, named 5-dehydroquinase, converting dehydroquinic acid to dehydroshikimic acid has been partially purified (606). It is fairly stable, has a high specificity, appears to have no cofactors, and is of wide occurrence in bacteria, algae, yeasts, and plants but, as expected, could not be found in mammalian liver. 

Phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan are synthesized by a common pathway in E. coli (Figure 24.13). The initial step is the condensation of phosphoenolpyruvate (a glycolytic intermediate) with erythrose 4-phosphate (a pentose phosphate pathway intermediate). The resulting seven-carbon open-chain sugar is oxidized, loses its phosphoryl group, and cyclizes to 3-dehydroquinate. Dehydration then yields 3-dehydroshikimate, which is reduced by N ADPH to shikimate. The phosphorylation of shikimate by ATP gives shikimate 3-phosphate, which condenses with a second molecule of phosphoenolpyruvate. The resulting 5-enolpyruvyl intermediate loses its... 

The shikimate pathway is utilized by plants to form aromatic amino acids.107 109 In this bioprocess, shown in Scheme 1.4.8, D-erythrose-4-phosphate is combined with phosphophenylpyruvate giving 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonic acid-7-phosphate (DAHP). The next step utilizes DHQ synthase to convert DAHP to dehydroquinate (DHQ). 

The biosynthesis of H4MPT can be viewed as being composed of two converging pathways, one beginning with GTP to generate the pterin portion and the other beginning with 3-dehydroquinate (DHQ) producing... 

The C N unit found in each of these metabolites has its origins in the shikimate pathway. The intermediate on this pathway from which diversion occurs, leading to the appropriate C N intermediate, is believed to be earlier than shikimic acid (87) itself and is possibly 3-dehydroquinic acid (98) or DAHP (97)... 

Further information was gleaned from feeding [l- C]glucose. ° This compound was found to label only C-1 and C-10 of the C7N unit, a labelling pattern which is similar to that observed in shikimic acid (191) formed from [1- C]glucose. Neither shikimic acid, however, nor the labelled aromatic amino-acids tested were found to be precursors for the C7N unit of rifamycin S. This does not, of course, exclude earlier intermediates on the shikimate pathway and it was suggested that 3-dehydroquinate (189) or 3-dehydroshikimate (192) may be the key intermediate in the biosynthesis of this unit in rifamycin S (193). 

The w-CyN unit described was shown to be incorporated in the biosynthesis of both the ansamycins and also other related antibiotics, such as pactamycin and other compounds [188-190]. With respect to other naturally occurring compounds which contain a partial structure derived from the m-CyN unit in the molecule, asukamycin [191] is a possible shunt metabolite from 3-dehydroquinic acid in the shikimate pathway. Incorporation of [l - 3C]-AHBA (118) into the C-6 methyl group of porfiromycin (120) (a mitomycin group antibiotic) was reported (Fig. 6) [192], and the participation of a m-CyN unit in this biosynthetic pathway and the antibiotics containing a m-CyN unit were reviewed [178,188,190]. 

Phenolic compounds include a wide range of secondary metabolites that are biosynthesised from carbohydrates through the shikimate pathway [14]. This is the biosynthetic route to the aromatic amino acids, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan, and only occurs in microorganisms and plants. In the first step, the glycolytic intermediate phosphoenol pyruvate and the pentose phosphate intermediate erythrose-4-phosphate are condensed to 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate (DAHP), a step catalysed by DAHP synthase. Intermediates of the shikimate pathway are 3-dehydroquinate, shikimate, and chorismate (Fig. 1). Phenylalanine is biosynthesised from chorismate, and from phenylalanine all the phenylpropanoids. Quinate is produced from 3-dehydroquinate and incorporated into chlorogenic and isochlorogenic acids (caffeoyl quinic acids) by combination with caffeic acid. Gallic acid is produced from shikimate. 

We quantified DAHP production by various E. coli aroB strains in order to understand the effect of certain parameters on direction of carbon flow into the common pathway (31,32). A mutation in the gene (aroB) encoding 3-dehydroquinate (DHQ) synthase leaves E. coli aroB strains incapable of converting... 

The dehydration of 3-dehydroquinate to 3-dehydroshiki-mate catalyzed by 3-dehydroquinase (EC 4.2.1.10) is common to two metabolic pathways, the inicrobial biosynthetic shikimate pathway and the catabolic quinate pathway. This reaction is catalyzed by two completely different enzymes either a Type I enzyme that catalyzes a syn elimination or a Type II enzyme that catalyzes an anti elimination. 

At the molecular level, two consecutive steps of the pathway dehydroquinate hydrolyase (DHQase)and shikimate NADP oxidoreductase (SHORase) are associated as a bifunctional complex (Ref. 3). Moreover, it has been shown that ... 

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