Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (2)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Köhle, A.
Right arrow Articles by Heide, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Köhle, A.
Right arrow Articles by Heide, L.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Köhle, A.
Right arrow Articles by Heide, L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Plant and Cell Physiology, 2002, Vol. 43, No. 8 894-902
© 2002 Oxford University Press

High Level Expression of Chorismate Pyruvate-Lyase (UbiC) and HMG-CoA Reductase in Hairy Root Cultures of Lithospermum erythrorhizon

Annegret Köhle1, Susanne Sommer1, Kazufumi Yazaki2, Albert Ferrer3, Albert Boronat4, Shu-Ming Li1 and Lutz Heide1,5

1 Pharmazeutische Biologie, Pharmazeutisches Institut, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 8, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany
2 Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Division of Applied Life Sciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa, Kyoto, 606-01 Japan
3 Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular (Divisió IV), Facultat de Farmacia, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
4 Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Facultat de Quimica, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain

Shikonin, a red naphthoquinone pigment, is produced by cell cultures of Lithospermum erythrorhizon (Boraginaceae). It is biosynthetically derived from two key precursors, 4-hydroxybenzoate (4HB) and geranyldiphosphate (GPP). The bacterial ubiC gene, encoding chorismate pyruvate-lyase (CPL) which converts chorismate to 4-hydroxybenzoate, was expressed in L. erythrorhizon under the control of the strong (ocs)3mas-promoter. This introduced an efficient biosynthetic pathway to 4HB, i.e. a one-step reaction from chorismate, in addition to the endogeneous multi-step phenylpropanoid pathway. Feeding experiments with [1,7-13C2]shikimic acid showed that in the most active transgenic line, 73% of 4HB was synthesized via the genetically introduced pathway. However, there was no correlation between CPL activity and 4HB glucoside or shikonin accumulation in the transgenic lines. HMG-CoA reductase (HMGR) is involved in the biosynthesis of GPP in L. erythrorhizon. Two forms of HMGR1 of Arabidopsis thaliana were expressed in Lithospermum under control of the (ocs)3mas promoter. Only moderate increases in enzyme activity were obtained with the complete enzyme, but high activity was achieved using the soluble cytosolic domain of HMGR1. Shikonin accumulation remained unchanged even upon high expression of soluble HMGR.

5 Corresponding author: E-mail, heide@uni-tuebingen.de; Fax, +49-7071-295250.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.