3-Dehydroquinate synthase, aromatic

In a very imaginative piece of research Frost and coworkers have developed a plasmid-based method for synthesizing aromatic amino acids, by incorporating the genes that code for the enzymes that perform the series of conversions from D-fructose-6-phosphate to D-erythrose-4-phosphate to 3-deoxy-D-arabinoheptulosonic acid-7-phos-phate (DAHP) near each other on a plasmid that can be transformed in E. coli. The enzymes are the thiamin diphosphate-dependent enzyme transketolase in the nonoxida-tive pentose shunt and DAHP synthase. The DAHP is then converted to the cyclic dehydroquinate, a precursor to all aromatic amino acids L-Tyr, L-Phe and L-Trp165,166 (equation 27). 

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). 

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. 

Methodology has been developed using mutant enzymes and H NMR analysis to identify the rate limiting steps in the conversion of glucose to aromatics. Dehydroquinate (DHQ) synthase, enoylpyruvyl shikimate 3 phosphate (EPSP) and chorismate synthase have been identified as such... 

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