Shikimate pathway pigments from

Fungal Pigments Derived from the Shikimate Pathway... 

Fig. 1. A generalized scheme showing the kinds of secondary products that arise from the aromatic amino acids in higher plants. Several similarities are found in fungi and bacteria some fungi produce alkaloids ftom tryptophan and lignin-like materials from phenylalanine. Plant pathogenic fungi produce cinnamate and para and meta hydroxy phenyl-acetate from phenylalanine. Certain bacteria produce antibiotics and fluorescent pigments from metabolites in the shikimate pathway. Microorganisms are not known to produce coumarin, substituted coumarins, flavonoids and isoflavonoids.

Flavonoids are coloured substances and occur as pigments in plants. The chemical structure is built from an acetate-derived component and a segment from the shikimic acid biosynthetic pathway. Knowledge of the... 

Carbon-14 work has shown that the pulvinic acid pigments found in lichens are derived via the shikimic acid pathway, and that the unsaturated ylidenebutenolides found with polyacetylenic compounds in the Compositae are derived from oleic acid. No biosynthetic studies have been reported for the terpenoid ylidenebutenolides freelingyne, peridinin and the several sesterterpenes from marine sponges. 

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