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Enzymatic Formation of β-Cyanoalanine from Cyanide by Escherichia coli Extracts

Nature volume 208, pages 1206–1207 (1965)Cite this article

Abstract

BLUMENTHAL-GOLDSCHMIDT et al.1 demonstrated that carbon-14 atoms from 14C-labelled HCN supplied to several types of seedling became incorporated almost exclusively into the amide-C of asparagine. Subsequent work2,3 indicated that these authors had selected, somewhat fortuitously, mainly asparagine-synthesizing species rather than others which incorporated 14C-cyanide almost entirely into a dipeptide, γ-glutamyl-β-cyano-alanine. This γ-glutamyl peptide is known as a normal constituent only of certain Vicia species4,5; its formation in other species is apparently dependent on an exogenous supply of cyanide.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, University College, London, W.C.1

    PATRICIA M. DUNNILL & L. FOWDEN

Authors
  1. PATRICIA M. DUNNILL
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  2. L. FOWDEN
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DUNNILL, P., FOWDEN, L. Enzymatic Formation of β-Cyanoalanine from Cyanide by Escherichia coli Extracts. Nature 208, 1206–1207 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1038/2081206a0

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