Non-mevalonate isoprenoid biosynthesis: enzymes, genes and inhibitors

2000 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 785-789 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. K. Lichtenthaler

The essential steps of the novel non-mevalonate pathway of isopentenyl diphosphate and isoprenoid biosynthesis in plants are described. The first five enzymes and genes of this 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate/2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (DOXP/MEP) pathway are known. The herbicide fosmidomycin specifically blocks the second enzyme, the DOXP reductoisomerase. The DOXP/MEP pathway is also present in several pathogenic bacteria and the malaria parasite. Hence, all herbicides and inhibitors blocking this novel isoprenoid pathway in plants are also potential drugs against malaria and diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria.

2000 ◽  
Vol 55 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 305-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hartmut K. Lichtenthaler ◽  
Johannes Zeidler ◽  
Jörg Schwender ◽  
Christian Müller

Higher plants and several photosynthetic algae contain the plastidic 1-deoxy-ᴅ-xylulose 5- phosphate / 2-C-methyl-ᴅ-erythritol 4-phosphate pathway (DOXP/MEP pathway) for isoprenoid biosynthesis. The first four enzymes and their genes are known of this novel pathway. All of the ca. 10 enzymes of this isoprenoid pathway are potential targets for new classes of herbicides. Since the DOXP/MEP pathway also occurs in several pathogenic bacteria, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, all inhibitors and potential herbicides of the DOXP/MEP pathway in plants are also potential drugs against pathogenic bacteria and the malaria parasite. Plants with their easily to handle DOXP/MEP-pathway are thus very suitable test-systems also for new drugs against pathogenic bacteria and the malaria parasite as no particular security measures are required. In fact, the antibiotic herbicide fosmidomycin specifically inhibited not only the DOXP reductoisomerase in plants, but also that in bacteria and in the parasite P. falciparum, and cures malaria-infected mice. This is the first successful application of a herbicide of the novel isoprenoid pathway as a possible drug against malaria.


2001 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 663-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Wanke ◽  
K Skorupinska-Tudek ◽  
E Swiezewska

Higher plants, several algae, bacteria, some strains of Streptomyces and possibly malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum contain the novel, plastidic DOXP/MEP pathway for isoprenoid biosynthesis. This pathway, alternative with respect to the classical mevalonate pathway, starts with condensation of pyruvate and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate which yields 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate (DOXP); the latter product can be converted to isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and eventually to isoprenoids or thiamine and pyridoxal. Subsequent reactions of this pathway involve transformation of DOXP to 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) which after condensation with CTP forms 4-diphosphocytidyl-2-amethyl-D-erythritol (CDP-ME). Then CDP-ME is phosphorylated to 4-diphosphocytidyl-2-amethyl-D-erythritol 2-phosphate (CDP-ME2P) and to 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol-2,4-cyclodiphosphate (ME-2,4cPP) which is the last known intermediate of the DOXP/MEP pathway. For- mation of IPP and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP) from ME-2,4cPP still requires clarification. This novel pathway appears to be involved in biosynthesis of carotenoids, phytol (side chain of chlorophylls), isoprene, mono-, di-, tetraterpenes and plastoquinone whereas the mevalonate pathway is responsible for formation of sterols, sesquiterpenes and triterpenes. Several isoprenoids were found to be of mixed origin suggesting that some exchange and/or cooperation exists between these two pathways of different biosynthetic origin. Contradictory results described below could indicate that these two pathways are operating under different physiological conditions of the cell and are dependent on the developmental state of plastids.


2000 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 796-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Zeidler ◽  
J. Schwender ◽  
C. Mueller ◽  
H. K. Lichtenthaler

Two plant test systems are presented in the search for new inhibitors of the non-mevalonate isoprenoid pathway. A derivative of clomazone appears to be an inhibitor of the deoxyxylulose 5-phosphate/methylerythritol 4-phosphate (DOXP/MEP) pathway of isoprenoid formation.


2003 ◽  
Vol 75 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 393-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Rohdich ◽  
Stefan Hecht ◽  
Adelbert Bacher ◽  
Wolfgang Eisenreich

Isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP) serve as the universal precursors for the biosynthesis of terpenes. Besides the well-known mevalonate pathway, a second biosynthetic pathway conducive to IPP and DMAPP via 1-deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate and 2C-methyl-d-erythritol-4-phosphate has been discovered recently in plants and certain eubacteria. 2C-Methyl-d-erythritol-4-phosphate, the first committed intermediate of the deoxyxylulose phosphate pathway, is converted into 2C-methyl-d-erythritol 2,4-cyclodiphosphate by the catalytic action of three enzymes specified by the ispDEF genes. The cyclic diphosphate is reductively opened by the IspG protein affording 1-hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(E)-butenyl-4-diphosphate. This compound can be converted into IPP as well as DMAPP by the catalytic action of IspH protein. The enzymes of this pathway are potential targets for novel antibacterial, antimalarial, and herbicide agents.


2000 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 792-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Mueller ◽  
J. Schwender ◽  
J. Zeidler ◽  
H. K. Lichtenthaler

Enzymes of the 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate/2-C-methylerythritol 4-phosphate (DOXP/MEP) pathway are targets for new herbicides and antibacterial drugs. Until now, no inhibitors for the DOXP synthase have been known of. We show that one of the breakdown products of the herbicide clomazone affects the DOXP synthase. One inhibitor of the non-mevalonate pathway, fosmidomycin, blocks the DOXP reductoisomerase (DXR) of plants and bacteria. The I50 values of plants are, however, higher than those found for the DXR of Escherichia coli. The DXR of plants, isolated from barley seedlings, shows a pH optimum of 8.1, which is typical for enzymes active in the chloroplast stroma.


2005 ◽  
Vol 386 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lionel KUNTZ ◽  
Denis TRITSCH ◽  
Catherine GROSDEMANGE-BILLIARD ◽  
Andréa HEMMERLIN ◽  
Audrey WILLEM ◽  
...  

Isoprenoid biosynthesis via the methylerythritol phosphate pathway is a target against pathogenic bacteria and the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. 4-(Hydroxyamino)-4-oxobutylphosphonic acid and 4-[hydroxy(methyl)amino]-4-oxobutyl phosphonic acid, two novel inhibitors of DXR (1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate reducto-isomerase), the second enzyme of the pathway, have been synthesized and compared with fosmidomycin, the best known inhibitor of this enzyme. The latter phosphonohydroxamic acid showed a high inhibitory activity towards DXR, much like fosmidomycin, as well as significant antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli in tests on Petri dishes.


1996 ◽  
Vol 316 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg SCHWENDER ◽  
Myriam SEEMANN ◽  
Hartmut K. LICHTENTHALER ◽  
Michel ROHMER

Isoprenoid biosynthesis was investigated in the green alga Scenedesmus obliquus grown heterotrophically on 13C-labelled glucose and acetate. Several isoprenoid compounds were isolated and investigated by 13C-NMR spectroscopy. According to the 13C-labelling pattern indicated by the 13C-NMR spectra, the biosynthesis of all plastidic isoprenoids investigated (prenyl side-chains of chlorophylls and plastoquinone-9, and the carotenoids β-carotene and lutein), as well as of the non-plastidic cytoplasmic sterols, does not proceed via the classical acetate/mevalonate pathway (which leads from acetyl-CoA via mevalonate to isopentenyl diphosphate), but via the novel glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate/pyruvate route recently detected in eubacteria. Formation of isopentenyl diphosphate involves the condensation of a C2 unit derived from pyruvate decarboxylation with glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and a transposition yielding the branched C5 skeleton of isoprenic units.


2000 ◽  
Vol 353 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Narciso CAMPOS ◽  
Manuel RODRÍGUEZ-CONCEPCIÓN ◽  
Susanna SAURET-GÜETO ◽  
Francesca GALLEGO ◽  
Luisa-María LOIS ◽  
...  

Isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and its isomer dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP) constitute the basic building block of isoprenoids, a family of compounds that is extraordinarily diverse in structure and function. IPP and DMAPP can be synthesized by two independent pathways: the mevalonate pathway and the recently discovered 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway. Although the MEP pathway is essential in most eubacteria, algae and plants and has enormous biotechnological interest, only some of its steps have been determined. We devised a system suitable for the genetic analysis of the MEP pathway in Escherichia coli. A synthetic operon coding for yeast 5-diphosphomevalonate decarboxylase, human 5-phosphomevalonate kinase, yeast mevalonate kinase and E. coli isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase was incorporated in the chromosome of this bacterium. The expression of this operon allowed the synthesis of IPP and DMAPP from mevalonate added exogenously and complementation of lethal mutants of the MEP pathway. We used this system to show that the ygbP, ychB and ygbB genes are essential in E. coli and that the steps catalysed by the products of these genes belong to the trunk line of the MEP pathway.


2013 ◽  
Vol 452 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordi Pérez-Gil ◽  
Manuel Rodríguez-Concepción

Isoprenoids are a large family of compounds synthesized by all free-living organisms. In most bacteria, the common precursors of all isoprenoids are produced by the MEP (methylerythritol 4-phosphate) pathway. The MEP pathway is absent from archaea, fungi and animals (including humans), which synthesize their isoprenoid precursors using the completely unrelated MVA (mevalonate) pathway. Because the MEP pathway is essential in most bacterial pathogens (as well as in the malaria parasites), it has been proposed as a promising new target for the development of novel anti-infective agents. However, bacteria show a remarkable plasticity for isoprenoid biosynthesis that should be taken into account when targeting this metabolic pathway for the development of new antibiotics. For example, a few bacteria use the MVA pathway instead of the MEP pathway, whereas others possess the two full pathways, and some parasitic strains lack both the MVA and the MEP pathways (probably because they obtain their isoprenoids from host cells). Moreover, alternative enzymes and metabolic intermediates to those of the canonical MVA or MEP pathways exist in some organisms. Recent work has also shown that resistance to a block of the first steps of the MEP pathway can easily be developed because several enzymes unrelated to isoprenoid biosynthesis can produce pathway intermediates upon spontaneous mutations. In the present review, we discuss the major advances in our knowledge of the biochemical toolbox exploited by bacteria to synthesize the universal precursors for their essential isoprenoids.


2001 ◽  
Vol 183 (8) ◽  
pp. 2411-2416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boran Altincicek ◽  
Ann-Kristin Kollas ◽  
Silke Sanderbrand ◽  
Jochen Wiesner ◽  
Martin Hintz ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT In a variety of organisms, including plants and several eubacteria, isoprenoids are synthesized by the mevalonate-independent 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway. Although different enzymes of this pathway have been described, the terminal biosynthetic steps of the MEP pathway have not been fully elucidated. In this work, we demonstrate that thegcpE gene of Escherichia coli is involved in this pathway. E. coli cells were genetically engineered to utilize exogenously provided mevalonate for isoprenoid biosynthesis by the mevalonate pathway. These cells were then deleted for the essential gcpE gene and were viable only if the medium was supplemented with mevalonate or the cells were complemented with an episomal copy of gcpE.


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