Putrescine utilization pathway

Kurihara S, A Oda, K Kato, HG Kim, T Koyanagi, H Kumagai, H Suzuki (2005) A novel putrescine utilization pathway involves v-glutamylated intermediates of Escherichia coli K-12. J Biol Chem 280 4602-4608. 

Keywords Aminotransferase Putrescine utilization pathway Spermidine acetyltransferase Transporter y-Aminobutyric acid y-Glutamyl intermediate y-Glutamylation... 

Two pathways, the aminotransferase pathway and the putrescine utilization pathway (the Puu pathway) (see Fig. 4.1), are responsible for the cataboUsm of putrescine to yield nitrogen and carbon sources for growth. 

Kurihara S, Oda S, Kumagai H, Suzuki H (2006) y-Glutamyl-y-aminobutyrate hydrolase in the putrescine utilization pathway of Escherichia coli K-12. FEMS Microbiol Lett 256 318-323 Kurihara S, Oda S, Tsuboi Y, Kim HG, Oshida M, Kumagai H, Suzuki H (2008) y-Glutamylputrescine synthetase in the putrescine utilization pathway of Escherichia coli K-12. J Biol Chem 283 19981-19990... 

Nemoto N, Kuriheu S, KitaharaY, Asada K, Kato K, Suzuki H (2012) Mechanism for regulation of the putrescine utilization pathway by the transcription factor PuuR in Escherichia coli K-12. J Bacteriol 194 3437-3447... 

Species of Pseudomonas can utilize the a,(i)-diamines putrescine, spermidine, and spermine as sources of carbon and nitrogen, and putrescine can be produced from the secondary amine spermidine together with 1,3-diaminopropane (Dasu et al. 2006). Putrescine (1,4-diaminobutane) is an intermediate in the arginine decarboxylase (ADC) pathway of L-arginine degradation, which is described later, and can be degraded, by two pathways ... 

Most pyrrolizidine alkaloids are esters of basic alcohols known as necine bases. The most frequently studied pyrrolizidine alkaloids are formed from the polyamines, putrescine and spermidine, and possess one of three common necine bases retronecine, heliotridine, and otonecine. Putrescine is utilized exclusively as a substrate in secondary metabolism, whereas spermidine is a universal cell-growth factor involved in many physiological processes in eukaryotes. Spermidine biosynthesis begins with the decarboxylation of SAM by SAM decarboxylase 165). The aminopropyl group is then transferred from decarboxylated SAM to putrescine by spermidine synthase to form spermidine (Scheme 5). Putrescine can be produced from ornithine by ODC. However, putrescine is derived from the arginine-agmatine pathway in pyrrolizidine alkaloid-producing plants due to the absence of ODC activity 166). 

Shaibe, E., Metzer, E., and Halpern, Y.S. (1985) Metabolic pathway for the utilization of L-arginine, L-ornithine, agmatine, and putrescine as nitrogen sources in Escherichia coli K-12. J. Bacterial, 163 (3), 933-937. 

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