Abstracts
Aromatic amino acid aminotransferases (AAA-ATs) catalyze the reversible transamination reactions of proteinogenic and non-proteinogenic aromatic amino acids to corresponding keto acids and vice versa. The products of plant AAA-ATs serve as key precursors of many primary and secondary metabolites that are crucial for both plant and human metabolism and physiology. In most microbes, l-tyrosine (Tyr) and l-phenylalanine (Phe) aminotransferases (Tyr and Phe-ATs) catalyze the final steps of Phe and Tyr biosynthesis. On the other hand, plants use different pathways to synthesize Tyr and Phe via arogenate, in which prephenate-specific aminotransferases (PPA-ATs) catalyze the committed step in the plastids. Plant Tyr and Phe-ATs, unlike microbial counterparts, often prefer the reverse reactions and metabolize Tyr and Phe to their respective aromatic keto acids, which serve as precursors of various plant natural products (e.g. benzenoid volatiles, tocochromanols, plastoquinone, and tropane and benzylisoquinoline alkaloids). Unlike plastidic PPA-ATs, plant Tyr/Phe-ATs are localized outside of the plastids, have broad substrate specificity, and interlink Tyr and Phe metabolism. l-Tryptophan (Trp) aminotransferases (Trp-ATs) are involved in biosynthesis of the plant hormone auxin. Although significant advancement has been made on biochemical, molecular, and genetic characterizations of plant AAA-ATs, there are still many critical knowledge gaps, which are highlighted in the current review.
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Abbreviations
- AAA:
-
Aromatic amino acid
- ADT:
-
Arogenate dehydratase
- ADH:
-
Arogenate dehydrogenase
- Asp:
-
l-Aspartate
- Asp-AT:
-
Aspartate aminotransferase
- BCAT:
-
Branch-chain amino acid aminotransferase
- l-DOPA:
-
3,4-Dihydroxyphenylalanine
- Glu:
-
l-Glutamate
- HPP:
-
4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid
- HPPD:
-
HPP dioxygenase
- IAA:
-
Indole-3-acetic acid
- IPA:
-
Indole-3-pyruvate
- Met:
-
l-Methionine
- PDT:
-
Prephenate dehydratase
- PDH:
-
Prephenate dehydrogenase
- Phe:
-
l-Phenylalanine
- Phe-AT:
-
Phe aminotransferase
- PLP:
-
Pyridoxal-5′-phosphate
- PPA-AT:
-
Prephenate aminotransferase
- PPY:
-
Phenylpyruvic acid
- Trp:
-
l-Tryptophan
- Trp-AT:
-
Trp aminotransferase
- Tyr:
-
l-Tyrosine
- Tyr-AT:
-
Tyr aminotransferase
- VAS1:
-
REVERSAL OF SAV3 PHENOTYPE 1
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This work was supported by the IOS-1354971 grant from the US National Science Foundation and the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive Grant (2015-67013-22955) from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture to H.A.M.
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Wang, M., Maeda, H.A. Aromatic amino acid aminotransferases in plants. Phytochem Rev 17, 131–159 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11101-017-9520-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11101-017-9520-6