Shikimate pathway amino acid synthesis

Herbicides that inhibit enzymes important for amino acid synthesis account for 28% of the herbicide market. Just three enzymes are involved the enzyme that adds phosphoenolpyruvate to shikimate-3-phoshate in the pathway leading to aromatic compounds, the enzyme that makes glutamine from glutamate and ammonia, and the first common enzyme in the biosynthesis of the branched-chain amino acids. 

The role of quinic acid in the shikimic acid pathway is not understood. In some plants, compared with shikimate, quinate administered exogenously is more effectively incorporated into the aromatic amino acids. These results have been interpreted to mean that quinate occurs on the pathway of aromatic amino acid synthesis and is not a shunt metabolite as depicted in Fig. 2. Different routes of metabolism for quinate and shikimate are also suggested by other experiments. For example, when p CJglucose and [ C]ery-throse are compared for eflSciency of their conversion into shikimate and... 

The well-known cytoplasmic shikimate pathway is important to aromatic amino acid synthesis. It takes a long metabolic pathway to reach to an aromatic amino acid from D-glucose. Two metabolic intermediates, phosphoenolpymvate from the glycolytic pathway and D-erythrose-4-phosphate from the pentose-phosphate pathway, must combine to form 3-deoxy-7-phospho-D-arabinoheptulosonate before formation of 3-dehydroquinate (Fig. 13.4). Thus, there are still several barriers difficult to overcome in the already existing technologies of shikimate fermentation from D-glucose (Draths et al. 1999). 

Precursors of phenylpropanoids are synthesized from two basic pathways the shikimic acid pathway and the malonic pathway (see Fig. 3.1). The shikimic acid pathway produces most plant phenolics, whereas the malonic pathway, which is an important source of phenolics in fungi and bacteria, is less significant in higher plants. The shikimate pathway converts simple carbohydrate precursors into the amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine. The synthesis of an intermediate in this pathway, shikimic acid, is blocked by the broad-spectrum herbicide glyphosate (i.e., Roundup). Because animals do not possess this synthetic pathway, they have no way to synthesize the three aromatic amino acids (i.e., phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan), which are therefore essential nutrients in animal diets. 

Deoxy-araWno-heptulosonic acid 7-phosphate (10) is a metabolic intermediate before shikimic acid in the biosynthetic pathway to aromatic amino-acids in bacteria and plants. While (10) is formed enzymically from erythrose 4-phosphate (11) and phosphoenol pyruvate, a one-step chemical synthesis from (11) and oxalacetate has now been published.36 The synthesis takes place at room temperature and neutral pH... 

Phenylalanine Ammonia-Lyase. The building units of lignin are formed from carbohydrate via the shikimic acid pathway to give aromatic amino acids. Once the aromatic amino acids are formed, a key enzyme for the control of lignin precursor synthesis is phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) (1). This enzyme catalyzes the production of cinnamic acid from phenylalanine. It is very active in those tissues of the plant that become lignified and it is also a central enzyme for the production of other phenylpropanoid-derived compounds such as flavonoids and coumarins, which can occur in many parts of the plant and in many different organs (35). Radioactive phenylalanine and cinnamic acid are directly incorporated into lignin in vascular tissue (36). 

Aromatic compounds arise in several ways. The major mute utilized by autotrophic organisms for synthesis of the aromatic amino acids, quinones, and tocopherols is the shikimate pathway. As outlined here, it starts with the glycolysis intermediate phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) and erythrose 4-phosphate, a metabolite from the pentose phosphate pathway. Phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan are not only used for protein synthesis but are converted into a broad range of hormones, chromophores, alkaloids, and structural materials. In plants phenylalanine is deaminated to cinnamate which yields hundreds of secondary products. In another pathway ribose 5-phosphate is converted to pyrimidine and purine nucleotides and also to flavins, folates, molybdopterin, and many other pterin derivatives. 

In addition to acetyl-CoA, shikimic acid, mevalonic acid, and deoxyxylulose phosphate, other building blocks based on amino acids are frequently employed in natural product synthesis. Peptides, proteins, alkaloids, and many antibiotics are derived from amino acids, and the origins of the most important amino acid components of these are briefly indicated in Figure 2.1. Intermediates from the glycolytic pathway and the Krebs cycle are used in constructing many of them, but the aromatic amino acids phenylalanine, tyrosine,... 

Deoxy-D-araZhrao-hept-2-ulosonic acid-7-phosphate ( DAHP, 122) is the precursor for the synthesis of aromatic amino acids in all microorganisms and plants (shikimic pathway).306,307... 

Several other important compounds found in the common aromatic amino acid pathway whose overproduction has been studied are shikimic acid (61) and, to a lesser extent, quinic acid (62) (Scheme 19.41).323 Both 61 and 62 are naturally occurring, highly functionalized carbocyclic rings with asymmetric centers, which can be used as starting material for the synthesis of GS4104 (63), a neuraminidase inhibitor discovered by Gilead Sciences and developed by Roche Pharmaceuticals under the trade name of Tamiflu .324 325 Manipulation of the aromatic amino acid pathway in E. coli has allowed for numerous strains to be assembled that produce both 61 and 62 as well as other intermediates.326 327 As reported by Chandran and co-workers, an E. coli strain has been constructed that synthesized 87 g/L (0.5m) of 61 in 36% (mol/mol) yield with a maximum productivity of 5.2 gL- lr1.328... 

Shikimic acid pathway chemical pathway common in plants, bacteria, and fungi, where aromatic amino acids (e.g., tryptophan, phenylalanine, tyrosine) are synthesized, thereby providing the parent compounds for the synthesis of the phenylpropanoid units in lignins. 

Inhibits 5-enolpyruvyl-shikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), an enzyme of the aromatic acid and biosynthesis pathway. This prevents synthesis of essential aromatic amino acids needed for protein biosynthesis... 

EPSP synthase catalyzes the synthesis of EPSP by an addition-elimination reaction through the tetrahedral intermediate shown in Fig. 2a. This enzyme is on the shikimate pathway for synthesis of aromatic amino acids and is the target for the important herbicide, glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in Roundup (The Scotts Company EEC, Marysville, OH). Transient-state kinetic studies led to proof of this reaction mechanism by the observation and isolation of the tetrahedral intermediate. Moreover, quantification of the rates of formation and decay of the tetrahedral intermediate established that it was tmly an intermediate species on the pathway between the substrates (S3P and PEP) and products (EPSP and Pi) of the reaction. The chemistry of this reaction is interesting in that the enzyme must first catalyze the formation of the intermediate and then catalyze its breakdown, apparently with different requirements for catalysis. Quantification of the rates of each step of this reaction in the forward and reverse directions has afforded a complete description of the free-energy profile for the reaction and allows... 

The quinone ring is derived from isochorismic acid, formed by isomerization of chorismic acid, an intermediate in the shikimic acid pathway for synthesis of the aromatic amino acids. The first intermediate unique to menaquinone formation is o-succinyl benzoate, which is formed by a thitunin pyrophosphate-dependent condensation between 2-oxogluttnate emd chorismic acid. The reaction catalyzed by o-succinylbenzoate synthettise is a complex one, involving initially the formation of the succinic semialdehyde-thiamin diphosphate complex by decarboxylation of 2-oxogluttnate, then addition of the succinyl moiety to isochorismate, followed by removed of the pyruvoyl side chain emd the hydroxyl group of isochorismate. 

The biologically active monosaccharide 3-deoxy-D-ura6//io-heptulosonic acid 7-phosphate (8 DAMP) is an important intermediate in the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids in plants (the shikimate pathway). As shown in Scheme 2, this compound has been produced in a combined chemical and enzymatic synthesis from racemic V-acetylaspartate 3-semialdehyde (4) and DHAP (1). The four-step synthesis proceeds in an overall yield of 13% (37% for the aldolase reaction). The enzymatic step generates the required, enantiomerically pure, syn aldol adduct compound (5). In view of the broad range of substrates tolerated by FDP aldolase, this method may be applicable to the production of analogs of DAMP. 

Chorismate synthase (CS) catalyzes the formation of chorismate, the last step in the shikimate pathway. Chorismate is a branch-point metabolite used for the synthesis of aromatic amino acids, p-aminobenzoic acid, folate, and other cyclic metabolites such as ubiquinone. The shikimate pathway is found only in plants, fungi, and bacteria, making the enzymes of the pathway potential targets for herbicides, antifungals, and antibiotics. 

The 3-deoxy-D-ara6mo-2-heptulosonic acid 7-phosphate (DAHP) synthetase (EC 4.1.2.15) is an enzyme involved in the shikimic pathway of aromatic amino acids biosynthesis in bacteria and plants, where catalyzes the construction of 3-deoxy-D-ara6/ o-2-heptulosonic acid 7-phosphate from phosphoenolpyruvate and D-erythrose 4-phosphate [6]. Although 3-deoxy-D-ara6/H0-2-heptulosonic acid 7-phosphate (DAHP) synthetase has not been widely investigated it has been employed for the DAHP synthesis on preparative scale from D-fructose in multienzyme system [68], This one-pot synthesis was subsequently even more simplified by the results of further studies which indicated that it was more efficient and economical to use the whole cells containing a DAHP synthetase plasmid [69]. 

Besides showing the unbranched pathway from erythrose-4-phosphate and phosphoenolpyruvate to shikimic acid. Figure 2L13 also shows the sequence of reactions from shikimic acid to chorismate, the first major branch point in the synthesis of the aromatic amino acids and histidine. The sixth reaction of the shikimic acid pathway is inhibited specifically by glyphosate (see here), which is the active ingredient in the broad spectrum herbicide known as Roundup. 

Plant secondary metabolites are biosynthesized from rather simple building blocks supplied by primary metabolism. Two important metabolic routes in this are the shikimate pathway and the isoprenoid biosynthesis. The shikimate pathway leads to the synthesis of phenolic compounds and the aromatic amino acids phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan. The isoprenoid biosjmthesis is a heavily branched pathway leading to a broad spectrum of compounds (fig. 1). From plants and microorganisms more than 37,000 isoprenoid compounds have been isolated so far [1]. 

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