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Non-plastidic, tyrosine-insensitive prephenate dehydrogenases from legumes

Nature Chemical Biology volume 11, pages 52–57 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

L-Tyrosine (Tyr) and its plant-derived natural products are essential in both plants and humans. In plants, Tyr is generally assumed to be synthesized in the plastids via arogenate dehydrogenase (TyrAa, also known also ADH), which is strictly inhibited by L-Tyr. Using phylogenetic and expression analyses, together with recombinant enzyme and endogenous activity assays, we identified prephenate dehydrogenases (TyrAps, also known as PDHs) from two legumes, Glycine max (soybean) and Medicago truncatula. The identified PDHs were phylogenetically distinct from canonical plant ADH enzymes, preferred prephenate to arogenate substrate, localized outside of the plastids and were not inhibited by L-Tyr. The results provide molecular evidence for the diversification of primary metabolic Tyr pathway via an alternative cytosolic PDH pathway in plants.

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Figure 1: Proposed Tyr pathways in plants.
Figure 2: HPLC detection of PDH activity from plant tissues and chromatographic separation of PDH and ADH.
Figure 3: Phylogeny and enzymatic activity of candidate legume PDHs.
Figure 4: Localization of legume PDH enzymes and PDH and CM activity.
Figure 5: Tyr insensitivity of PDHs and proposed alternative Tyr biosynthetic routes in legumes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. Singhal (University of Wisconsin) for help with protoplast isolation; S. Swanson, A. Chanoca and R. Buono (University of Wisconsin) for assistance with confocal imaging and analysis; C. Grau (University of Wisconsin) for soybean Williams82 seeds; J.-M. Ané (University of Wisconsin) for M. truncatula tissues and seeds; and F.R. Márquez (Universidad Andrés Bello) for the 35S-pPZP211 vector. The confocal imaging was performed at the Newcomb Imaging Center, Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison. This work was supported by grant IOS-1354971 from the US National Science Foundation to H.A.M., the Fritz Went Undergraduate Fellowship to S.C. and the start-up funds from the Graduate School, the College of Letters & Science, and the Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison to H.A.M.

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  1. Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Craig A Schenck, Siyu Chen & Hiroshi A Maeda

  2. DuPont Pioneer, Hayward, California, USA

    Daniel L Siehl

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  1. Craig A Schenck
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  2. Siyu Chen
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Contributions

C.A.S. and H.A.M. designed research, and C.A.S. performed phylogenetic analyses, enzyme purification and characterization, localization studies and inhibition assays. S.C. performed gene expression analyses, enzyme purification and enzymatic assays. D.L.S. performed chromatographic separations and enzymatic assays, and H.A.M. performed localization studies and enzymatic assays. C.A.S., S.C., D.L.S. and H.A.M. analyzed data, C.A.S. and H.A.M. wrote the manuscript. All authors read and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hiroshi A Maeda.

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Schenck, C., Chen, S., Siehl, D. et al. Non-plastidic, tyrosine-insensitive prephenate dehydrogenases from legumes. Nat Chem Biol 11, 52–57 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1693

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