Abstract
Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) catalyzes the first step in phenylpropanoid synthesis. The role of PAL in pathway regulation was investigated by measurement of product accumulation as a function of enzyme activity in a collection of near-isogenic transgenic tobacco plants exhibiting a range of PAL levels from wild type to 0.2% of wild type. In leaf tissue, PAL level is the dominant factor regulating accumulation of the major product chlorogenic acid and overall flux into the pathway. In stems, PAL at wild-type levels contributes, together with downstream steps, in the regulation of lignin deposition and becomes the dominant, rate-determining step at levels 3- to 4-fold below wild type. The metabolic impact of elevated PAL levels was investigated in transgenic leaf callus that overexpressed PAL. Accumulation of the flavonoid rutin, the major product in wild-type callus, was not increased, but several other products accumulated to similarly high levels. These data indicate that PAL is a key step in the regulation of overall flux into the pathway and, hence, accumulation of major phenylpropanoid products, with the regulatory architecture of the pathway poised so that downstream steps control partitioning into different branch pathways.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.