REVIEW article

Front. Plant Sci., 27 March 2013

Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity

Volume 4 - 2013 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2013.00062

Shikimate and Phenylalanine Biosynthesis in the Green Lineage

  • TT

    Takayuki Tohge *

  • MW

    Mutsumi Watanabe

  • RH

    Rainer Hoefgen

  • AR

    Alisdair R. Fernie

  • Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology Potsdam-Golm, Germany

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Abstract

The shikimate pathway provides carbon skeletons for the aromatic amino acids l-tryptophan, l-phenylalanine, and l-tyrosine. It is a high flux bearing pathway and it has been estimated that greater than 30% of all fixed carbon is directed through this pathway. These combined pathways have been subjected to considerable research attention due to the fact that mammals are unable to synthesize these amino acids and the fact that one of the enzymes of the shikimate pathway is a very effective herbicide target. However, in addition to these characteristics these pathways additionally provide important precursors for a wide range of important secondary metabolites including chlorogenic acid, alkaloids, glucosinolates, auxin, tannins, suberin, lignin and lignan, tocopherols, and betalains. Here we review the shikimate pathway of the green lineage and compare and contrast its evolution and ubiquity with that of the more specialized phenylpropanoid metabolism which this essential pathway fuels.

Introduction

The shikimate pathway is closely interlinked with those of the aromatic amino acids (L-tryptophan, l-phenylalanine, and L-tyrosine) and in land plants bears very high fluxes with estimates of the amount of fixed carbon passing through the pathway varying between 20 and 50% (Weiss, 1986; Corea et al., 2012; Maeda and Dudareva, 2012). Considerable research focus has been placed on this pathway since the aromatic amino acids are not produced by humans and monogastric livestock and are therefore an important dietary component (Tzin and Galili, 2010). Furthermore, one of the enzymes of the pathway – 5-enolpyruvalshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSP) – is one of the most widely employed herbicide target sites (see, Duke and Powles, 2008). Moreover, as we have recently described, plant phenolic secondary metabolites and their precursors are synthesized via the pathway of shikimate biosynthesis and its numerous branchpoints (Tohge et al., 2013). The shikimate pathway is highly conserved being found in fungi, bacteria, and plant species wherein it operates in the biosynthesis of not just the three aromatic amino acids described above but also of innumerable aromatic secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, flavonoids, lignins, and aromatic antibiotics. Many of these compounds are bioactive as well as playing important roles in plant defense against biotic and abiotic stresses and environmental interactions (Hamberger et al., 2006; Maeda and Dudareva, 2012), and as such are highly physiologically important. It is estimated that under normal conditions as much as 20% of the total fixed carbon flows through to shikimate pathway (Ni et al., 1996), with greater carbon flow through the pathway under times of plant stress or rapid growth (Corea et al., 2012). Given its importance it is perhaps not surprising that all members of biosynthetic genes and corresponding enzymes involved in shikimate pathway have been characterized in model plants such as Arabidopsis. Cross-species comparison of the shikimate biosynthetic enzymes has revealed that they share sequence similarity, divergent evolution, and commonality in reaction mechanisms (Dosselaere and Vanderleyden, 2001). However, all other species vary considerably from fungi which has evolved a complex system with a single pentafunctional polypeptide known as the AroM complex which performs five consecutive reactions (Lumsden and Coggins, 1977; Duncan et al., 1987). In this review we will summarize current knowledge concerning the genetic nature of this pathway focusing on cross-species comparisons bridging a wide range of species including algae (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Volvox carteri, Micromonas sp., Ostreococcus tauri, Ostreococcus lucimarinus), moss (Selaginella moellendorffii, Physcomitrella patens), monocots (Sorghum bicolor, Zea mays, Brachypodium distachyon, Oryza sativa ssp. japonica and Oryza sativa ssp. indica), and dicots (Vitis vinifera, Theobroma cacao, Carica papaya, Arabidopsis thaliana, Arabidopsis lyrata, Populus trichocarpa, Ricinus communis, Manihot esculenta, Malus domestica, Fragaria vesca, Glycine max, Lotus japonicus, Medicago truncatula) species (Table 1). Finally, we compare and contrast the evolution of this pathway with that of the more specialized pathways of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis.

Table 1

Species nameIDCommon nameClassificationSpecies
1Chlamydomonas reinhardtiiCRGreen algaeChlorophyteChlamydomonadaceae
2Volvox carteriVCAlgaeChlorophyteVolvoceae
3Micromonas sp. RCC299MRCMicromonasChlorophytaPrasinophyceae
4Ostreococcus tauriOTMicroalgaePrasinophytePrasinophyceae
5Ostreococcus lucimarinusOLMicroalgaePrasinophytePrasinophyceae
6Selaginella moellendorffiiSMSpike mossLycophytesSelaginellaceae
7Physcomitrella patensPPMossLycophytesFunariaceae
8Sorghum bicolorSBSorghumMonocotPoaceae
9Zea maysZMCornMonocotPoaceae
10Brachypodium distachyonBDPurple false bromeMonocotPoaceae
11Oryza sativa ssp. japonicaOSJaponica riceMonocotPoaceae
12Oryza sativa ssp. indicaOSIIndica riceMonocotPoaceae
13Vitis viniferaVVGrapevineDicotVitaceae
14Theobroma cacaoTCCacaoDicotMalvaceae
15Carica papayaCPPapayaDicotCaricaceae
16Arabidopsis thalianaATArabidopsisDicotBrassicaceae
17Arabidopsis lyrataALLyrataDicotBrassicaceae
18Populus trichocarpaPTPoplarDicotSalicaceae
19Ricinus communisRCCastor oil plantDicotEuphorbiaceae
20Manihot esculentaMECassavaDicotEuphorbiaceae
21Malus domesticaMDAppleDicotRosaceae
22Fragaria vescaFVStrawberryDicotRosaceae
23Glycine maxGMSoybeanDicotFabaceae
24Lotus japonicusLJLotusDicotFabaceae
25Medicago truncatulaMTMedicagoDicotFabaceae

Summary of the species used in the study.

Coding genes is estimated by Plaza (http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/plaza/). Relationships among the species considered are presented on the Plaza website (http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/plaza/).

Shikimate Biosynthesis and Phenylalanine Derived Secondary Metabolism in Plants

Given that phenolic secondary metabolites which are derived from phenylalanine via shikimate biosynthesis are widely distributed in plants and other eukaryotes, genes encoding shikimate biosynthetic enzymes are generally highly conserved in nature. Eight and two reactions are involved in shikimate and phenylalanine biosynthesis, respectively. Both members of all gene families and the corresponding biosynthetic enzymes involved in these pathways have been characterized in model plants such as Arabidopsis (Figure 1A). In contrast, phenolic secondary metabolites derived from phenylalanine display considerable species-specific distribution with the phenolic secondary metabolites have been found in plant kingdom such as coumarin derivatives, monolignal, lignin, spermidin derivatives, flavonoid, tannin being present in specific families within the green lineage (Figure 1B). This diversity has arisen by the action of diverse evolutionary strategies for example gene duplication and cis-regulatory evolution in order to adapt to prevailing environmental conditions. Given their species-specific distribution, the genes involved in plant phenolic secondary metabolism such as phenylammonia-lyase (PAL), polyketide synthase (PKS), 2-oxoglutarate-dependent deoxygenases (2ODDs), and UDP-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) are frequently used as case studies of plant evolution (Tohge et al., 2013). Despite the fact that shikimate-phenylalanine biosynthetic genes are well conserved in all species including algae species, phenolic secondary metabolism related orthologous genes were not detected in all algae species (Table 2, Tohge et al., 2013). This result suggests a considerably more ancient origin of the shikimate-phenylalanine pathways. In the next sections, we will discuss the evolution of shikimate-phenylalanine pathways focusing on cross-species comparisons for each gene encoding on of the constituent enzymes of either pathway.

Figure 1

Table 2

No. ID1 CR3 MRCC2994 OT8 SB9 ZM10 BD11 OS12 OSindica
DHSCr17g06460Mrcc02g07760Ot06g03510Sb01g028770Zm02g39200Bd1g21330Os03g27230Osi07g35030
Sb01G033590Zm04g31550Bd1g60750Os07g42960Osi08g36090
Sb02G039660Zm05g06990Bd3g33650Os08g37790Osi10g31830
Sb07G029080Bd3g38670Os10g41480

DQSCr08g02240Mrcc01g05190Ot05g01830Sb02G031240Zm02g34320Bd4g36507Os09g36800Osi09g29080

DHQDCr08g04550Mrcc01g03580Ot12g02660Sb08G016970Zm03g17940Bd4g05897Os12g34874Osi12g23310
Zm10g05140

SKCr10g04010Mrcc13g02500Ot14g03180Sb06G030260Zm02g02970Bd3g59237Os04g54800Osi02g49680
Zm04g27840Bd5g23460
Zm05g40530

SKL1Sb08G018630Zm01g26660Bd2g03680Os01g01302

SKL2Mrcc02g03490Ot07g01450Sb01G027930Zm01g22640Bd3g34245Os10g42700

ESPSCr03g06830Mrcc13g01100Ot14g02430Sb10G002230Zm09g05500Bd1g51660Os06g04280Osi06g03190

CSCr01g12390Mrcc05g01430Ot02g06020Sb01G040790Zm01g10020Bd1g67790Os03g14990Osi03g13340
Zm09g24540

CMCr03g01600Mrcc08g05060Ot08g02860Sb03G035460Zm03g31000Bd2g50800Os01g55870Osi01g52850
Sb04G005480Zm05g21270Bd3g06050Os02g08410Osi02g08160
Zm08g34320Os12g38900
Zm08g34330

PATCr02g15900Mrcc06g00860Ot16g00690Sb03G041180Zm03g25600Bd2g24300Os01g65090Osi01g61700
Sb09G021360Zm08g15210Bd2g56330

ADTCr06g02760Mrcc01g05870Ot01g01250Sb01G038740Zm01g12020Bd5g09020Os04g33390Osi03g16350
Sb06G015310Zm02g16320Bd5g09030Os03g17730Osi04g25440
Zm10g16000Bd1g16517Os07g49390Osi07g41390
Bd1g65800
No. ID13 VV14 TC16 AT17 AL18 PT21 MD22 FV23 GM24 LJ25 MT
DHSVv00g09200Tc01g008590At1g22410Al1g23930Pt01g14860Md00g000730Fv0g22320Gm02g37080Lj1g002520Mt2g009080
Vv00g17890Tc01g012940At4g33510Al7g02250Pt02g09760Md00g361080Fv5g19610Gm06g10670Mt5g064500
Vv18g03830Tc02g011250At4g39980Al7g07720Pt05g07260Md01g001320Gm14g35370
Tc03g024120Pt05g16320Md04g002280Gm15g06020
Tc08g008780Pt07g04970Md05g021570
Md05g025390
Md10g003880
Md11g021260

DQSVv04g00350Tc01g001360At5g66120Al8g34560Pt05g11110Md00g089850Fv1g13270Gm01g36890Lj2g022420Mt5g022580
Gm11g08350

DHQDVv05g03610Tc04g027300At3g06350Al3g06450Pt10g01690Md00g196450Fv1g19500Gm01g20760Lj4g005930Mt4g090620
Vv14g04450Tc05g024340Pt13g02880Md00g199470Fv6g07230Gm20g37400
Vv14g04460Tc05g024370Md00g208810Fv6g07240
Md01g014110
Md01g014130
Md04g017400
Md15g026460

SKVv00g22160Tc01g010070At2g21940Al4g01190Pt02g06000Md00g396950Fv6g01580Gm04g39700Lj1g014890
Vv07g06350At4g39540Al7g01530Pt05g08460Md02g009820Gm04g39710
Pt07g06400Gm05g31730
Gm08g14980

SKL1Vv14g14000Tc04g004710At3g26900Al5g05650Pt17g08780Fv6g51520Gm02g08050Lj1g008480
Gm16g27060

SKL2Vv02g01940Tc03g029930At2g35500Al4g20870Pt03g08570Md00g061570Fv0g29740Gm01g01890Lj3g020970Mt1g009450
Md00g432830Fv2g18080Lj3g020980Mt5g029550
Md06g002680

ESPSVv15g09330Tc01g037810At1g48860Al1g42610Pt02g14550Md00g030870Fv7g11420Gm01g33660Lj3g025840Mt4g024620
Vv15g09350At2g45300Al4g33160Pt14g06200Md00g271560Gm03g03190

CSVv06g05280Tc10g005370At1g48850Al1g42550Pt08g03850Md00g355380Fv4g18660Gm10g35560Lj0g038950Mt1g095160
Vv13g03240Al3g19880Pt10g21700Md01g008950Fv4g18670Gm20g31980Lj0g284550Mt1g095240
Md08g005430Fv7g23950Mt1g095250
Fv7g24040
CMVv01g02110Tc02g032570At1g69370Al2g17620Pt10g15830Md00g250450Fv0g04690Gm13g05830Lj5g005890Mt1g013820
Vv04g13080Tc04g009770At3g29200Al5g08750Pt17g12090Md00g329990Fv2g52320Gm14g11870Lj5g005900Mt5g043210
Vv14g02700Tc09g001490At5g10870Al6g10610Pt18g02330Md01g020010Fv6g43680Gm17g33940
Md16g003330Gm19g03290
Md17g004580

PATVv07g05790Tc01g009420At2g22250Al4g01710Pt05g07910Md00g135490Fv6g00440Gm05g31490Lj6g003720Mt8g091280
Vv18g03130Pt07g05690Md00g246930Gm08g14720
Md00g304630Gm11g36190
Gm11g36200

ADTVv06g04790Tc02g034990At1g08250Al1g12100Pt00g13690Md00g099570Fv3g01120Gm11g15750Lj3g029800Mt2g088130
Vv10g00970Tc06g019290At1g11790Al3g08080Pt04g01150Md00g099580Fv3g16180Gm11g19430Lj4g001780Mt4g055310
Vv12g10860Tc09g026620At2g27820Al4g12300Pt04g18820Md00g456520Fv3g29940Gm12g07720Mt4g061070
Tc09g028840At3g07630Al5g12520Pt08g19820Md05g001400Gm12g09050Mt4g132250
At3g44720Al6g22310Pt09g14910Md15g019040Gm12g30660
At5g22630Gm12g31940
Gm17g01610

Shikimate and phenylalanine biosynthetic genes and homologs in each species with/without tandem duplicated genes.

Orthologous genes were estimated by BLAST search in Plaza website. Bold indicates tandem gene duplication.

3-Deoxy-D-Arabino-Heptulosonate 7-Phosphate Synthase

The first enzymatic step of the shikimate pathway, 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate synthase (DAHPS), catalyzes an aldol condensation of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), and D-erythrose 4-phosphate (E4P) to produce 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate (DAHP) (Figure 1). According to their protein structure, DAHPSs can be clustered into two distinct homology classes. The microbe derived class I DAHPS contain a bifunctional chorismate mutase (CM)-DAHPS domains, for that reason microbial DAHPSs, for example, E. coli (AroF, G, and H) and S. cerevisiae (Aro3 and 4), are classified as class I DAHPSs. By contrast, class II DAHPS were previously thought to be present only in plant species, but have subsequently been reported in certain microbes such as Streptomyces coelicolor, Streptomyces rimosus, and Neurospora crassa (Bentley, 1990; Maeda and Dudareva, 2012). The DAHPS (AroA) and CM (AroQ) activities of B. subtilis DAHPS are, however, separated by domain truncation. Detailed sequence structure analysis of the bacterial AroA and AroQ families, enzymatic studies with the full-length protein and the truncated domains of AroA and AroQ of B. subtilis, and comparison with fusion proteins of Porphyromonas gingivalis in which the AroQ domain was fused to the C terminus of AroA, suggest that “feedback regulation” may indeed be the evolutionary link between the two classes which are evolved from primitive unregulated member of class II DAHPS (Wu and Woodard, 2006). Class II plant DAHPSs have been reported from carrot roots (Suzich et al., 1985) and potato cell culture (Pinto et al., 1986; Herrmann and Weaver, 1999). DAHPS is encoded by three genes in the Arabidopsis genome (AtDAHPS1, AT4G39980; AtDAHPS2, At4g33510; AtDAHPS3, At1g22410). Orthologous gene search queries using the Arabidopsis DAHPSs, revealed a single gene in algae species (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Volvox carteri, Micromonas sp., and Ostreococcus tauri) and Lotus japonica but two to eight isoforms in other higher plant species (Table 2). AtDAHPS1-type and AtDAHPS2 type genes display differential expression in Arabidopsis thaliana, Solanum lycopersicum, and Solanum tuberosum (Maeda and Dudareva, 2012). AtDAHPS1-type genes, which are additionally subject to redox regulation by the ferredoxin-thioredoxin system, exhibit significant induction by wounding and pathogen infection (Keith et al., 1991; Gorlach et al., 1995; Maeda and Dudareva, 2012), whereas AtDAHPS2 type genes display constitutive expression (Gorlach et al., 1995). A phylogenetic analysis of DAHPS genes reveals four major clades, (i) a microphyte clade, (ii) a bryophyte duplication clade, (iii) monocot and dicot woody species clade, (iv) a AtDAHPSs clade (Figure 2Aa). Furthermore, major clade iv has four sub-groups, (iv-a) AtDAHPS2 group, (iv-b) monocot, (iv-c) AtDAHPS1 group and (iv-d) AtDAHP3 group. This result indicates that the constitutively expressed AtDAHPS1 and the stress responsive AtDAHPS 3 type genes display well conserved sequence between species (clade iv-c and iv-d), whereas the second constitutively expressed AtDAHPS2 type genes are clearly separated between monocot and dicot species (clade iv-a).

Figure 2

3-Dehydroquinate Synthase

The second step of the shikimate pathway is catalyzed by 3-dehydroquinate synthase (DHQS), an enzyme which promotes the intramolecular exchange of the DAHP ring oxygen with carbon 7 to convert DAHP into 3-dehydroquinate. Unlike the fungal situation detailed above, the plant DHQS gene is monofunctional and only found as a single copy in all species with the exception Glycine max which harbors two genes in its genome (Figure 2Ab). Phylogenetic analysis of DHQS genes reveals three major clades consisting of (i) microphyte (ii) bryophyte, (iii) monocot, (iv) Brassicaceae, and (v) dicot species. Intriguingly, by contrast to other shikimate biosynthetic genes, gene expression of DHQS gene is not well correlated to phenylpropanoid production in Arabidopsis (Hamberger et al., 2006).

3-Dehydroquinate Dehydratase/Shikimate Dehydrogenase

3-Deoxy-d-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate is converted to 3-dehydroquinate by the bifunctional enzyme 3-dehydroquinate dehydratase/shikimate dehydrogenase (DHQD/SD), which catalyzes firstly the dehydration of DAHP to 3-dehydroshikimate and consequently the reversible reduction of this intermediate to shikimate using NADPH as co-factor. DHQD/SD exists in three forms; bacterial specific class I shikimate dehydrogenases (AroE type), class II shikimate/quinate dehydrogenases (YdiB type), and class III of shikimate dehydrogenase-like (SHD-l type) (Michel et al., 2003; Singh et al., 2005). In plants class IV, enzymatic activity of DHQD is 10 times higher than SD activity indicating that the amount of 3-dehydroshikimate will be more than sufficient to support flux through the shikimate pathway (Fiedler and Schultz, 1985). This bifunctional enzyme plays an important role in regulating metabolism of several phenolic secondary metabolic pathways (Bentley, 1990; Ding et al., 2007). In general, seed plants contain a single DHQD/SD gene which contains a sequence encoding a plastic transit peptide in their genome (Maeda et al., 2011, Table 2). However, an exception to this statement is Nicotiana tabacum which contains two genes in its genome. Intriguingly, silencing of NtDHD/SHD-1 results strong growth inhibition and reduction of the level of aromatic amino acids, chlorogenic acid, and lignin contents (Ding et al., 2007), however, a second cytosolic isoform can compensate for the production of shikimate but not at the phenotypic level. On a more general basis phylogenetic analysis reveals that microphytes also contain a low number of DHQD/SD genes (between one and two), whilst clear separation between (i) the microphyte clade, (ii) bryophyte clade, (iii) monocot clade, (iv) woody species-specific tandem gene duplication clade, and (v) dicot clades could be observed (Figure 2Ac; Table 2). Interestingly, the observation of the woody species-specific tandem gene duplication clade suggests that these species evolved after DHQD/SD gene duplication. The cytosolic localization of NtDHD/SHD-2 is intriguing since the presence of DAHP synthase, ESPS synthase and CM isoforms lacking N-terminal plastid targeting sequences has been reported (d’Amato, 1984; Mousdale and Coggins, 1985; Ganson et al., 1986). Furthermore, the findings that both ESPS synthase and shikimate kinase (SK) are active even when they retain their target sequences (Dellacioppa et al., 1986; Schmid et al., 1992) suggests that they could also potentially be constituents of a cytosolic pathway. Finally, experiments in which isolated and highly pure mitochondria were supplied with 13C labeled glucose to investigate the binding of the cytosolic isoforms of glycolysis (Giege et al., 2003) also revealed 13C enrichment in shikimate (Sweetlove and Fernie, 2013), indicating that a full cytosolic pathway is likely also in this species.

Shikimate Kinase

The fifth reaction of the shikimate pathway is catalyzed by SK which catalyzes the ATP-dependent phosphorylation of shikimate to shikimate 3-phospate (S3P). E. coli has two SKs, one of class I (AroL type) and one of II (AroK type) which share only 30% sequence identity (Griffin and Gasson, 1995; Whipp and Pittard, 1995; Herrmann and Weaver, 1999). In plants, different numbers of SK isoforms are found in several species; only one in green algae, lycophytes, and bryophytes but between one and three in monocot and dicot plants (Table 2). A phylogenetic analysis of SK genes presents five major clades consisting of (i) microphyte, (ii) bryophyte, (iii) dicot woody species-specific clade, (iv) monocot clade, and (v) dicot species clade (Figure 2Ad). Anaylsis of the SK protein of Spinacia olerancea revealed that it was modulated by energy status and is therefore similar to bacterial SK protein and other ATP-utilizing enzymes (Pacold and Anderson, 1973; Huang et al., 1975; Schmidt et al., 1990). For this reason it has recently been postulated that SK may link to energy requiring shikimate pathway to the cellular energy balance (Maeda and Dudareva, 2012), however, direct experimental support for this hypothesis is currently lacking. In Arabidopsis, homologous genes named SKL1 and SKL2, which are functionally required for chloroplast biogenesis have been demonstrated to have arisen from SK gene duplication (Fucile et al., 2008). SKL1 and SKL2 orthologs have been found in several seed plant species, but not in green algae (Table 2).

5-enolypyruvylshikimate 3-Phosphate Synthase

The 5-enolypyruvylshikimate 3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS, 3-phosphoshikimate 1-carboxyvintltransferase) is the sixth step and here a second PEP is condensed with S3P to form 5-enolpyruvylshiukimate 3-phosphate (EPSP). Since EPSPS is the only known target for the herbicide glyphosate (Steinrucken and Amrhein, 1980), isoforms of this enzyme are often classified according to their sensitivity of glyphosate, glyphosate sensitive EPSPS class I is present in bacteria and plant species, whilst glyphosate insensitive EPSPS class II which has been reported in certain bacteria such as Agrobacterium (Fucile et al., 2011). In plants, different number of EPSPS isoforms is found in several species; only a single isoform in green algae, lycophytes, and bryophytes, but either one or two are found in monocot and dicot species (Table 2). Phylogenetic analysis of EPSPS genes revealed, atypically for genes associated with shikimate metabolism, that five major groups could be observed; (i) microphyte, (ii) bryophyte, (iii) Brassicaceae specific clade, (iv) monocot species, and (v) dicot species clade (Figure 2Ae). There are clear indications that duplicated EPSPS genes in Arabidopsis, apple, grapevine, soybean, and poplar are the result of independent duplication events within their lineages with both copies being maintained in Arabidopsis (Hamberger et al., 2006), however, the reason for the unique divergence in this gene of the pathway is currently unclear.

Chorismate Synthase

Chorismate, the final product of the shikimate pathway, is subsequently formed by chorismate synthase (CS) which catalyzes the trans-1,4 elimination of phosphate from EPSP. CSs are categorized within one of two functional groups (i) fungal type bifunctional CS which are associated with NADPH-dependent flavin reductase or (ii) bacterial and plant type monofunctional CSs (Schaller et al., 1991; Maeda and Dudareva, 2012). The reaction catalyzed by CS requires flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and its overall reaction is redox neutral (Ramjee et al., 1991; Macheroux et al., 1999; Maclean and Ali, 2003). The FMN represents supplies an electron donor for EPSP which facilitates the cleavage of phosphate. The first cloned plant CS gene was that from C. sempervirens (Schaller et al., 1991) which contains a sole CS in its genome. Given that this gene has a 5′ plastid import signal sequence, these results indicate that there may be no CS outside of the plastid this species. Surveying other species revealed that one to two CS genes were present in green algae, lycophytes, and bryophytes as well as dicot specie but that one to three are present in the genomes of apple and leguminous species (Table 2). A phylogenetic analysis of CS genes reveals three major clades constituted by (i) microphyte, (ii) monocot, (iii) dicot species (Figure 2Af).

Chorismate Mutase

Chorismate mutase catalyzes the first step of phenylalanine and tyrosine biosynthesis and additionally represents a key step of toward the branch split of tryptophan biosynthesis. CM catalyzes the transformation of chorismate to prephenate via a Claisen rearrangement. The bacterial minor CM proteins (AroQ type, class I CM) display monofunctional enzymatic activity whilst several bifunctional CMs such as CM-PDT, CM-PDH, and CM-DAHP have been additionally been found in fungi and bacteria (class II CM, Euverink et al., 1995; Romero et al., 1995; Chen et al., 2003; Baez-Viveros et al., 2004). In spite of the fact of only one CM gene is present in algae and lycophyte genomes, more a single gene copy (two to five) are found in bryophytes as well as monocot and dicot species (Table 2). In seed plants, the CM1 bears a putative plastid transit peptide, but CM2 does not and is additionally usually insensitive to allosteric regulation by aromatic amino acids (Benesova and Bode, 1992; Eberhard et al., 1996; Maeda and Dudareva, 2012). Several plant species, especially dicot plants, have an additional CM3 family gene which displays high sequence similarity to CM2 yet bears a putative plastid transit peptide. For example, Arabidopsis has three isozymes named AtCM1 (At3g29200), AtCM2 (At5g10870), and AtCM3 (At1g69370) (Mobley et al., 1999; Tzin and Galili, 2010). Phylogenetic analysis of the CS genes reveals three major clades constituting of (i) AtCM2 clade, (ii) microphyte and bryophyte clade, and (iii) AtCM2 clade (Figure 2Ba). Additionally, clade iii shows two sub-groups, (iii-a) AtCM3 sub-groups and (iii-b) AtCM1 sub-group (Figure 2Ba) (Eberhard et al., 1996). In spite of that the CM2 sub-group contains all species of seed plants, monocot species are not contained into AtCM3 sub-group. Recently the importance of CM has been extended beyond intracellular metabolism, In Zea mays, the chorismate mutase Cmu1 secreted by Ustilago maydis, a widespread pathogen characterized by the development of large plant tumors and commonly known as smut, is a virulence factor. The uptake of the Ustilago CMu1 protein by plant cells allows rerouting of plant metabolism and changes the metabolic status of these cells via metabolic priming (Djamei et al., 2011). It now appears that secreted CMs are found in many plant-related microbes and this form of host manipulation would appear to be a general weapon in the arsenal of plant pathogens.

Prephenate Aminotransferase and Arogenate Dehydratase

Prephenate aminotransferase (PAT) and arogenate dehydratase (ADT) catalyze the final steps for production of phenylalanine. Whilst ADT was first cloned in 2007 (Cho et al., 2007; Huang et al., 2010), it is only more recently that PAT was cloned. Papers published in 2011 identified PAT in Petunia hybrid, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Solanum lycopersicum (Dal Cin et al., 2011; Maeda et al., 2011) and established that it directs carbon flux from prephenate to arogenate but also that it is strongly and co-ordinately upregulated with genes of primary metabolism and phenylalanine derived flavor volatiles. In plant species, a different number of PAT isoforms have been found. Although green algae only contain single PAT and ADT genes, monocot species have between one and two PATs and between two and four ADTs whilst dicot plants genomes contain the same number of PATs but two to eight ADTs (Table 2). Phylogenetic analysis of PAT genes shows three major clades of (i) microphyte, (ii) monocot, and (iii) dicot species (Figure 2Bb).

Genes Involved in Plant Phenolic Secondary Metabolisms

Phenolic secondary metabolism displays an immense chemical diversity due to the evolution of enzymatic genes which are involved in the various biosynthetic and decorative pathways. Such variation is caused by diversity and redundancy of several key genes of phenolic secondary metabolism such as PKSs, cytochrome P450s (CYPs), Fe2+/2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases (2ODDs), and UDP-glycosyltransferases (UGTs). On the other hand, there are other general phenylpropanoid related biosynthetic genes, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H), and 4-coumarate:coenzyme A ligase (4CL), which are required in order to differentiate various classes of phenolic secondary metabolism. All of these core genes encode important enzymes which activate a number of hydroxycinnamic acids to provide precursors for the biosynthesis of lignins, monolignals, and indeed all other major phenolic secondary metabolites in higher plants (Lozoya et al., 1988; Allina et al., 1998; Hu et al., 1998; Ehlting et al., 1999; Lindermayr et al., 2002; Hamberger and Hahlbrock, 2004). Since phenolic secondary metabolism display considerable species-specificity, investigation of the genes encoding the responsible biosynthetic enzymes are frequently used as an example of chemotaxonomy for understanding plant evolution. However, considering the evolution of these genes in isolation is rather restrictive a deeper understanding is provided by combining this with investigation of the evolution of the shikimate-phenylalanine biosynthetic genes in the green lineage.

Conclusion

During the long evolutionary period covered from aquatic algae to land plants, plants have adapted to the environmental niches with the evolutionary strategies such as gene duplication and convergent evolution by the filtration of natural selection. Genes of plant shikimate biosynthesis have evolved accordingly (Figure 3). In this review, we demonstrated that biosynthetic genes of aromatic amino acid primary metabolism are well conserved between algae and all land plants. However, in contrast to algae species which have neither isoforms nor duplicated genes in their genomes, all land plants harbor gene duplications including tandem gene duplications which are particularly prominent in the cases of DAHPS, DHQD/SD, CS, CM, and ADT (Figure 3A; Table 2). Our phylogenetic analysis revealed clear separation between algae, monocots, dicots, woody species, and leguminous plants. Analysis of the presence and copy number of key genes across these species gives several hints as to how to improve our understanding of the scaffold from which these genes have evolved. However, the exact evolutionary pressures on genes of shikimate biosynthesis including the unique occurrence of the Arom complex will require considerable further studies. That said it is intriguing to compare and contrast biosynthetic genes of those downstream of them in the production of plant phenolics (Figure 3B). Interestingly, shikimate pathway genes are ubiquitous across the green lineage whilst this cannot be said for all downstream genes of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. Furthermore, there is a much greater gene duplication within phenylpropanoid than shikimate biosynthesis (Figure 3A; Table 2). This fact also reflected in the level of chemical diversity of the respective pathways with the essentiality of the shikimate pathway preventing much diversity, but phenylpropanoid species often being redundant in function to one another. It would seem likely that the phenylpropanoid pathway initially arose via mutations accumulating in the shikimate pathway genes. However, whilst these were potentially beneficial in land plants for reasons we discuss in our recent review of these compounds (Tohge et al., 2013) they do not appear to share the essentiality of shikimate across the entire green lineage.

Figure 3

Statements

Acknowledgments

Research activity of Takayuki Tohge is supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Funding from the Max-Planck-Society (to Takayuki Tohge, Mutsumi Watanabe, Rainer Hoefgen, Alisdair R. Fernie) is gratefully acknowledged.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Summary

Keywords

shikimate pathway, aromatic amino biosynthesis, evolution, gene copy number, gene duplication, plant secondary phenolic metabolite

Citation

Tohge T, Watanabe M, Hoefgen R and Fernie AR (2013) Shikimate and Phenylalanine Biosynthesis in the Green Lineage. Front. Plant Sci. 4:62. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2013.00062

Received

21 January 2013

Accepted

04 March 2013

Published

27 March 2013

Volume

4 - 2013

Edited by

Kazuki Saito, RIKEN Plant Science Center and Chiba University, Japan

Reviewed by

Gad Galili, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel; Hiroshi Maeda, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Copyright

*Correspondence: Takayuki Tohge, Max-Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Muehlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany. e-mail:

This article was submitted to Frontiers in Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity, a specialty of Frontiers in Plant Science.

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