Imidazole glycerolphosphate

Evidence for the presence of the enzymes of the histidine pathway in plants appears to be limited to the work of Winter et al. (1971a) who demonstrated the presence of ATP-phosphoribosyltransferase, the first enzyme of the pathway, imidazole glycerolphosphate dehydratase and histidinol phosphatase in extracts from the shoots of barley, oats, and peas, and to the unpublished observations of Davies (see Davies, 1971) on the presence of histidinol dehydrogenase in rose tissue culture cells. The specific activity of ATP-phosphoribosyltransferase was greatest in peas and oats and least in barley. The enzymes from oats and barley were thermolabile losing activity after 30 min at 37°C. The specific activities of imidazole glycerolphosphate dehydratase were very low but it was possible to purify the enzyme to some extent. The values for imidazole glycerolphosphate for the barley enzyme was 0.6 mM which compares with values for jthe yeast and bacterial enzymes of 0.3 and 0.4 mM, respectively. Histidinolphosphatase was purified 20-fold but the authors considered that two phosphatases were still present. 

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