Mutants pathway

The proposed pathway for the biosynthesis of the avermectins (Fig. 3) has been described in a review (23). Some of the details are yet to be elucidated, although the steps, in general, are based on firm evidence from four types of studies incorporation of labeled precursors, conversion of putative intermediates by producing strains and blocked mutants, in vitro measurement of biosynthetic enzymes, and studies with enzyme inhibitors. The biosynthesis of the oleandrose units was elucidated from studies using and labeled glucose, which indicated a direct conversion of glucose to... 

Hundreds of metabohc reac tions take place simultaneously in cells. There are branched and parallel pathways, and a single biochemical may participate in sever distinct reactions. Through mass action, concentration changes caused by one reac tion may effect the kinetics and equilibrium concentrations of another. In order to prevent accumulation of too much of a biochemical, the product or an intermediate in the pathway may slow the production of an enzyme or may inhibit the ac tivation of enzymes regulating the pathway. This is termed feedback control and is shown in Fig. 24-1. More complicated examples are known where two biochemicals ac t in concert to inhibit an enzyme. As accumulation of excessive amounts of a certain biochemical may be the key to economic success, creating mutant cultures with defective metabolic controls has great value to the produc tion of a given produc t. 

An alternative strategy for producing new derivatives by directed biosynthesis is to produce mutants in which particular pathways may be blocked or a new pathway created. Again, we will use a specific example to illustrate this approach. 

Auxotrophic mutants are mutants that miss one or more of the enzymes used in the biosynthetical pathway for one or more amino adds. In practice this means that the mutant needs one or more key metabolites which it cannot synthesise for growth in its growth medium. For example, consider Figure 8.4. 

Auxotrophic mutants are used in the production of end products of branched pathways, ie pathways leading to more than one amino add at the same time. This is the case for L-lysine, L-methicmine, L-threonine and L-isoleudne in Brevibacterium flavum and Corynebacterium glutamicum. 

Auxotrophic mutant lack one or more enzymes involved in the synthesis of amino acids (such as tyrosine). This prevents accumulation of the amino acid and thus avoids feedback inhibition of enzymatic steps in the L-phenylalanine pathway. 

Ag-isomerase leading to depletion of ergosterol and accumulation of an unplanar sterol ignosterol. With the inhibition of two steps in the same pathway, a natural synergistic effect is built into the molecule so that the risk of appearance of resistant mutants is low and efficacy high. 

Many diseases are known to be caused by the intracellular retention of mutant proteins or by the impairment of components of the secretory pathway [4]. The disease-causing mechanisms include ... 

From this observation of the inhibition by adenosine, and other observations, Newell and Tucker suspected the existence of a common synthetic pathway for adenosine and thiamine, and proved (with the help of a collection of mutants) that the bifurcation occurred after the 5-amino- l-(P-D-ribofura-nosyl)imidazole 5 -phosphate (46) step (Scheme 23). Finally, they found that 5-amino-l-(0-D-ribofuranosyl)imidazole (47), labeled with l4C in the imidazole ring, was incorporated into pyramine without significant loss of molar radioactivity by a mutant that is able to use this nucleoside (presumably after phosphorylation).53,54... 

Escherichia coli Adenine and adenosine are inhibitory74 and the synthesis of thiamine can be derepressed by culture in their presence.13,75 adth- Mutants are known.76 [l4C]Formate incorporates at C-2 of pyramine without dilution of molar activity. Glycine labeled with stable isotopes was fed to E. coli and the pyramine was analyzed by mass spectrometry. The two carbon atoms of glycine separated during the biosynthesis. The carboxyl was found12 at C-4, and the C-N fragment was the precursor of C-6-N-1. In conclusion, it is beyond doubt that pyramine synthesis follows the AIR pathway in E. coli. 

The choice of the particular upward pathway in the kinetic resolution of rac-19, that is, the specific order of choosing the sites in ISM, appeared arbitrary. Indeed, the pathway B C D F E, without utilizing A, was the first one that was chosen, and it led to a spectacular increase in enantioselectivity (Figure 2.15). The final mutant, characterized by nine mutations, displays a selectivity factor of E=115 in the model reaction [23]. This result is all the more remarkable in that only 20000 clones were screened, which means that no attempt was made to fully cover the defined protein sequence space. Indeed, relatively small libraries were screened. The results indicate the efficiency of iterative CASTing and its superiority over other strategies such as repeating cycles of epPCR. 

Metabolic pathways containing dioxygenases in wild-type strains are usually related to detoxification processes upon conversion of aromatic xenobiotics to phenols and catechols, which are more readily excreted. Within such pathways, the intermediate chiral cis-diol is rearomatized by a dihydrodiol-dehydrogenase. While this mild route to catechols is also exploited synthetically [221], the chirality is lost. In the context of asymmetric synthesis, such further biotransformations have to be prevented, which was initially realized by using mutant strains deficient in enzymes responsible for the rearomatization. Today, several dioxygenases with complementary substrate profiles are available, as outlined in Table 9.6. Considering the delicate architecture of these enzyme complexes, recombinant whole-cell-mediated biotransformations are the only option for such conversions. E. coli is preferably used as host and fermentation protocols have been optimized [222,223]. 

The third reason for favoring a non-radical pathway is based on studies of a mutant version of the CFeSP. This mutant was generated by changing a cysteine residue to an alanine, which converts the 4Fe-4S cluster of the CFeSP into a 3Fe-4S cluster (14). This mutation causes the redox potential of the 3Fe-4S cluster to increase by about 500 mV. The mutant is incapable of coupling the reduction of the cobalt center to the oxidation of CO by CODH. Correspondingly, it is unable to participate in acetate synthesis from CH3-H4 folate, CO, and CoA unless chemical reductants are present. If mechanism 3 (discussed earlier) is correct, then the methyl transfer from the methylated corrinoid protein to CODH should be crippled. However, this reaction occurred at equal rates with the wild-type protein and the CFeSP variant. We feel that this result rules out the possibility of a radical methyl transfer mechanics and offers strong support for mechanism 1. 

The carotenoid pathway may also be regulated by feedback inhibition from the end products. Inhibition of lycopene cyclisation in leaves of tomato causes increase in the expression of Pds and Psy-1 (Giuliano et al, 1993 Corona et al, 1996). This hypothesis is supported by other studies using carotenoid biosynthesis inhibitors where treated photosynthetic tissues accumulated higher concentrations of carotenoids than untreated tissues (reviewed by Bramley, 1993). The mechanism of this regulation is unknown. A contrary view, however, comes from studies on the phytoene-accumulating immutans mutant of Arabidopsis, where there is no feedback inhibition of phytoene desaturase gene expression (Wetzel and Rodermel, 1998). 

ERNST s and sandmann g (1988) Poly-c carotene pathway in the Scenedesmus mutant C-6D , Arch Microbiol, 150, 590-94. 

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