What is it about?
The methylerythritol 4-phosphate pathway provides precursors for synthesis of isoprenoids in bacteria and plants. Feedback regulation by dimethylallyl diphosphate (end product) inhibition of deoxyxylulose 5-phosphate synthase (first enzyme) is highlighted along with other metabolic regulation.
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Why is it important?
There is significant interest in engineering organisms to make isoprenoids as high value chemical feedstocks, pharmaceuticals, and biofuels. Currently the mevalonic acid pathway found in animals is used most often but the MEP pathway is more efficient. Metabolic regulation may be one reason the MEP pathway has been more difficult to use. Better knowledge of the metabolic regulation could make the MEP pathway a preferred source for isoprenoid precursors in synthetic biology and also could help explain observations of terpene emissions from plants.
Perspectives
This review arose out of our interest in understanding regulation of isoprene emission from plants. Isoprene from plants is the largest hydrocarbon input into the atmosphere and affects ozone formation and formation of particulates in the atmosphere. The physiological role of isoprene in plants is unknown. Our discovery of feedback inhibition from DMADP and IDP on deoxyxylulose 5-phosphate synthase helped us understand how the flux through the pathway could change a great deal with little change in the concentration of metabolites in the pathway. The insights are very important to efforts to make isoprenoids through biotechnology.
Professor Thomas D Sharkey
Michigan State University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway metabolic regulation, Natural Product Reports, January 2014, Royal Society of Chemistry,
DOI: 10.1039/c3np70124g.
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