The Methylerythritol Phosphate Pathway

Rodriguez-Concepcion, M. and Boronat, A., Elncidation of the methylerythritol phosphate pathway for isoprenoid biosynthesis in hacteria and plastids a metabolic milestone achieved throngh genomics. Plant Physiol. 130, 1079, 2002. Rodriguez-Concepcion, M., Early steps in isoprenoid biosynthesis multilevel regulation of the supply of common precursors in plant cells, Phytochem. Rev. 5, 1, 2006. Eisenreich, W., Rohdich, F., and Bacher, A., Deoxyxylulose phosphate pathway to terpenoids, Trends Plant Sci. 6, 78, 2001. 

Plant metabolism can be separated into primary pathways that are found in all cells and deal with manipulating a uniform group of basic compounds, and secondary pathways that occur in specialized cells and produce a wide variety of unique compounds. The primary pathways deal with the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids and act through the many-step reactions of glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, the pentose phosphate shunt, and lipid, protein, and nucleic acid biosynthesis. In contrast, the secondary metabolites (e.g., terpenes, alkaloids, phenylpropanoids, lignin, flavonoids, coumarins, and related compounds) are produced by the shikimic, malonic, and mevalonic acid pathways, and the methylerythritol phosphate pathway (Fig. 3.1). This chapter concentrates on the synthesis and metabolism of phenolic compounds and on how the activities of these pathways and the compounds produced affect product quality. 

Rohmer M (2007) Diversity in isoprene unit biosynthesis the methylerythritol phosphate pathway in bacteria and plastids. Pure Appl Chem 79 739-751... 

Keeling PJ, Burger G, Dumford DG, Lang BF, Lee RW, Pearlman RE, Roger AJ, Gray MW (2005) The tree of eukaryotes. Trends Ecol Evol 20 670-676 Kim D, Filtz MR, Proteau PJ (2004) The methylerythritol phosphate pathway contributes to carotenoid but not phytol biosynthesis in Euglena gracilis. J Nat Prod 67 1067-1069... 

Rohmer, M. (2008) From molecular fossils of bacterial hopanoids to the formation of isoprene units discovery and elucidation of the methylerythritol phosphate pathway. Lipids, 43,1095-107. 

Seemann M, Rohmer M. Isoprenoid biosynthesis via the methylerythritol phosphate pathway GcpE and LytB, two novel iron/ sulphur proteins. C.R. Chimie 2007. In press. 

Kim D, Eiltz MR, Protean PJ. The methylerythritol phosphate pathway contributes to carotenoid but not phytol biosynthesis in Euglena gracilis. J. Nat. Prod. 2004 67 1067-1069. 

Lherbet C, Pojer F, Richard SB, Noel JP, Poulter CD. Absence of substrate channeling between active sites in the Agrobacterium tume-faciens IspDF and IspE enzymes of the methylerythritol phosphate pathway. Biochemistry 2006 45 3548-3553. 

The compound (54) has been enzymatically converted into a phosphorylated derivative of (E)-2-methylbut-2-ene-l,4-diol, which most probably represents a novel intermediate in the methylerythritol phosphate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis. The use of a photolabile acetal protecting group enables the synthesis of glycoaldehyde di-, and triphosphates (55) and (56) respectively. 

Rodriguez-Concepcion M. and A. Boronat Elucidation of the methylerythritol phosphate pathway for isoprenoid biosynthesis in bacteria and plastids. A metabolic milestone achieved through genomics. Plant Physiol. 130(2002) 1079-1089. 

Sauret-Gueto, S. et al. (2006) Plastid cues post-transcriptionally regulate the accumulation of key enzymes of the methylerythritol phosphate pathway in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol. 141, 75-84... 

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