Phenylalanine, alkaloid precursor

The precursors of true alkaloids and protoalkaloids are aminoacids (both their precursors and postcursors), while transamination reactions precede pseudoalkaloids (Tables 1 and 10). It is not difficult to see that from all aminoacids only a small part is known as alkaloid precursors (Table 19). Both true and proto alkaloids are synthesized mainly from the aromatic amino acids, phenylalanine, tyrosine (isoquinoline alkaloids) and tryptophan (indole alkaloids). Lysine is the... 

Although L-phenylalanine is a protein amino acid, and is known as a protein acid type of alkaloid precursor, its real role in biosynthesis (providing C and N atoms) only relates to carbon atoms. L-phenylalanine is a part of magic 20 (a term deployed by Crick in his discussion of the genetic code) and just for this reason should also be listed as a protein amino acid type of alkaloid precursor, although its duty in alkaloid synthesis is not the same as other protein amino acids. However, in relation to magic 20 it is necessary to observe that only part of these amino acids are well-known alkaloid precursors. They are formed from only two amino acid families Histidine and Aromatic and the Aspartate family . 

Compartmentation and Channeling of Phenylalanine, a Precursor and Inducer of Alkaloid Synthesis... 

Fig. 14. Overview of regulatory mechanisms acting at the level of transport and channeling of the alkaloid precursor phenylalanine in Penicillium cyclopium (60). (1) Under the influence of P-factor, the biosynthesis of vacuolar phenylalanine carriers is stimulated. (2) Above a threshold concentration, cellular methionine and cysteine inactivate vacuolar phenylalanine carriers. (3) Distinct concentrations of cellular ATP inhibit the efflux from the vacuole high levels of cytosolic amino acids stimulate efflux in the presence of sufficient ATP. (4) The vacuolar phenylalanine pool is most probably involved in triggering the expression of alkaloid metabolism. (5) In the idiophase, cyclopenin stimulates enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of phenylalanine.

Quinoline Alkaloids.—Anthranilic acid and a benzoylacetic acid derivative, derived from phenylalanine, are precursors for graveoline (124) cf. ref. 5. On the other hand, whilst the biosynthesis of (125) no doubt involves anthranilic acid, benzoic acid (carboxyl-labelled material), and not phenylalanine, was a precursor for (125) in Lunasia amara incorporation was specific, with labelling of C-2. The remaining carbons should derive from acetate, and a positive incorporation was recorded. It is clear that further work is required on the biosynthesis of this alkaloid before its origins can be described with certainty. 

Probably this protein does not take part in the biosynthesis of the alkaloid precursors L-phenylalanine, anthranilic acid, and L-methionine because feeding of these compounds to culture at the beginning of alkaloid production showed no increase of alkaloid biosynthesis. One might speculate that intracellular channel-... 

Certain alkaloid precursors such as indole derivatives, purines, and nicotinic acid are powerful growth stimulators, and some, such as certain phenylalanine-tyrosine derivatives, are inhibitors. The biosynthetic con-... 

True alkaloids derive from amino acid and they share a heterocyclic ring with nitrogen. These alkaloids are highly reactive substances with biological activity even in low doses. All true alkaloids have a bitter taste and appear as a white solid, with the exception of nicotine which has a brown liquid. True alkaloids form water-soluble salts. Moreover, most of them are well-defined crystalline substances which unite with acids to form salts. True alkaloids may occur in plants (1) in the free state, (2) as salts and (3) as N-oxides. These alkaloids occur in a limited number of species and families, and are those compounds in which decarboxylated amino acids are condensed with a non-nitrogenous structural moiety. The primary precursors of true alkaloids are such amino acids as L-ornithine, L-lysine, L-phenylalanine/L-tyrosine, L-tryptophan and L-histidine . Examples of true alkaloids include such biologically active alkaloids as cocaine, quinine, dopamine, morphine and usambarensine (Figure 4). A fuller list of examples appears in Table 1. 

These alkaloids can also be derived from non-aminoacid precursors. The N atom is inserted into the molecule at a relatively late stage, for example, in the case of steroidal or terpenoid skeletons. Certainly, the N atom can also be donated by an amino acid source across a transamination reaction, if there is a suitable aldehyde or ketone. Pseudoalkaloids can be acetate and phenylalanine-derived or terpenoid, as well as steroidal alkaloids. Examples of pseudoalkaloids include such compounds as coniine, capsaicin, ephedrine, solanidine, caffeine, theobromine and pinidine (Figure 6). More examples appear in Table 1. 

This body of evidence led to the conclusion that two intact C6-C3 units derived from phenylalanine are incorporated into lactonic Lythraceae alkaloids. One unit is the precursor of the phenylpropanoid part of the alkaloids (C-l 1 to C-19) and the other gives rise to the C-3 to C-l, C-20 to C-25 segment of the phenylquinolizidine part ... 

Dopamine may alternatively be formed from tyrosine via hydroxylation of L-dopa which is decarboxylated. However, inverse isotope dilution experiments to study the formation of dopamine and dopa have shown that this is probably a minor pathway in peyote (176). It has been shown that L-tyrosine is incorporated into alkaloids in peyote three times more efficiently than into protein (344). 4-Hydroxy-3-methoxyphenethylamine can be methylated to 3,4-dimethoxy-phenethylamine (homoveratrylamine), which may be viewed as a dead-end product in Scheme 2 (10, 203). Phenylalanine is probably not a precursor of the... 

The Rutaceae oxazoles are evidently derived from /V-nicotinoyl-p-(p-hydroxy)-phenylethylamide (51), with the exception of balsoxin (25) and texamine (26) in which the nicotinoyl moiety is replaced by benzoyl. The condensation of these tyramine and nicotinic acid residues does not represent any major departure from the standard routes of alkaloid biosynthesis in the Rutaceae, for it has long been recognized that the alkaloids of this family are all derived from either phenylalanine (52), tyrosine, (53), or anthranilic acid (54) (22), the latter being the acknowledged precursor to nicotinic acid in most organisms (23). The formation of the putative oxazole precursor 51 or its equivalent therefore constitutes a convergence of the two predominant modes of alkaloid biosynthesis in the family. 

Cephalotaxus Alkaloids.—Preliminary results indicate that the homo-Erythrina alkaloid schelhammeridine (52) derives from phenylalanine and tyrosine by way of a phenethylisoquinoline precursor [as (53)].52 Previous evidence for the biosynthesis of the related alkaloid cephalotaxine (54), obtained with tyrosine labelled in the side-chain, has indicated a different pathway which involves two molecules of this amino-acid.53 Recently, however, tyrosine labelled in the aromatic ring was examined as a cephalotaxine precursor and was found54 to label ring A of (54) almost exclusively, i.e. only one unit of tyrosine is used for biosynthesis. This is obviously inconsistent with the previous evidence and the early incorporations are... 

Phenanthroindolizidine Alkaloids.—The phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids, e.g. tylophorine (14) and tylophorinine (15), are assembled in Tylophora asthmatica from fragments derived from ornithine, phenylalanine, and tyrosine (cf. Vol. 8, p. 6 Vol. 9, p. 5). The last amino-acid is the source of ring B plus C-9 and C-10. It has now been shown that dopa is a better precursor than tyrosine for this fragment. Label from [2-14C]dopa was specifically incorporated into C-10 of (14) and (15).16... 

Pseudoakuammicine is the first racemic base to be discovered in the strychnine-yohimbine series of alkaloids, and the question of its origin naturally arises. The only stage in the extraction of Picralima seeds during which racemization of akuammicine might have occurred involved prolonged percolation with hot methanol however, as already discussed, akuammicine is not racemized under these conditions but suffers a more extensive decomposition. In any event, such a racemization would necessarily involve fission of the 3,7 and 15,16 bonds, followed by a nonspecific resynthesis, which is considered to be a very unlikely possibility. It was therefore suggested that, in the plant, pseudoakuammicine is produced by a nonspecific biosynthesis this would accord with its formation from a tryptophan-phenylalanine precursor, but not from an optically pure prephenic acid derivative (40). 

The mode of biosynthesis of none of these alkaloids is known but, in the case of the iboga group, some guesses have been made (39, 63, 64), all of which start from the amino acids, tryptophan and dihydroxy-phenylalanine, and involve a fission of the latter s aromatic ring. A more sophisticated approach (65), starting from precursors of the aromatic amino acids, namely shikimic and prephenic acids, is apparently not in agreement with recent work on other indole alkaloids (66). The genesis of most indole alkaloids appears to stem from tryptophan and three... 

Alkaloids thus represent one of the largest groups of natural products, with over 10,000 known compounds at present, and they display an enormous variety of structures, which is due to the fact that several different precursors find their way into alkaloid skeletons, such as ornithine, lysine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan (38-40). In addition, part of the alkaloid molecule can be derived from other pathways, such as the terpenoid pathway, or from carbohydrates (38-40). Whereas the structure elucidation of alkaloids and the exploration of alkaloid biosynthetic pathways have always commanded much attention, there are relatively few experimental data on the ecological function of alkaloids. This is the more surprising since alkaloids are known for their toxic and pharmacological properties and many are potent pharmaceuticals. 

The majority of alkaloids have been found to be derived from amino acids, such as tyrosine, phenylalanine, anthranilic acid, tryptophan/tryptamine, ornithine/arginine, lysine, histidine and nicotinic acid (Fig. 2.1). However, alkaloids maybe derived from other precursors such as purines in case of caffeine, terpenoids, which become aminated after the main skeleton has been synthesized i.e. aconitine or the steroidal alkaloids, are found in the Solanaceae and Liliaceae. Alkaloids may also be formed from acetate-derived polyketides, where the amino nitrogen is introduced as in the hemlock alkaloid, coniine. 

Spenser and co-workers 123) have investigated the biosynthesis of berberine and related alkaloids elaborated by Hydrastis canadensis L. In separate feeding experiments, D-glucose-i C (uniformly labeled), DL-phenylalanine-2-i4C, DL-tyrosine-2-i4C DL-tyrosine-S-i C, and 3,4-dihydroxy-2-phenylethylamine-l-i4C (dopamine) were administered to the growing plants. Of the compounds tested tyrosine was the most efficient precursor of the major alkaloids, berberine and hydrastine, and dopamine was almost as good. Glucose was a much less efficient precursor, and the incorporation of phenylalanine into these alkaloids was almost negligible. 

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