Mode of action of glyphosate in Candida maltosa.

The broad-spectrum herbicide glyphosate inhibits the growth of Candida maltosa and causes the accumulation of shikimic acid and shikimate-3-phosphate. Glyphosate is a potent inhibitor of three enzymes of aromatic amino acid biosynthesis in this yeast. In relation to tyrosine-sensitive 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate synthase and dehydroquinate synthase, the inhibitory effect appears at concentrations in the mM range, but 5-enolpyruvylshikimate 3-phosphate (EPSP) synthase is inhibited by micromolar concentrations of glyphosate. Inhibition of partially purified EPSP synthase reaction by glyphosate is competitive with respect to phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) with a Ki-value of 12 microM. The app. Km for PEP is about 5-fold higher and was 62 microM. Furthermore, the presence of glyphosate leads to derepression of many amino acid biosynthetic enzymes.

Synthesis and separation of tritium-labeled intermediates of the shikimate pathway.

[5-3H]Shikimate (sp radioact 2000 Ci/mol) has been synthesized by reduction of the methyl ester of 5-dehydroshikimate with NaB3H4 and subsequent hydrolysis of the ester group (M. M. Leduc, P. M. Dansette, and R. G. Azerad (1970) Eur. J. Biochem. 15, 428-435). The [5-3H]shikimate has been converted enzymatically to [5-3H]chorismate and [5-3H]prephenate of similar high specific radioactivity by using a cell-free extract of Aerobacter aerogenes 62-1. In addition, a chromatographic procedure, which utilizes polyethyleneimine-cellulose thin-layer chromatograms, has been developed for the separation of intermediates along the shikimate pathway between shikimate and hydroxyphenylpyruvate or phenylpyruvate. Since the method allows quantitative measurement of tritium-labeled intermediates, it provides the basis for sensitive radioassays of the individual enzymes and allows study of the reaction flux along the overall pathway. The same intermediates can be separated on a large scale by use of a column of DEAE-Sephacel.

The shikimate pathway. III. 3-dehydroquinate synthetase of E. coli. Mechanistic studies by kinetic isotope effect.

The conversion of 3-deoxy D-arabino heptulosonate 7-phosphate to 3-dehydroquinate by the 3-dehydroquinate synthetase from E. coli is characterized by a low but significant kinetic isotope effect for tritium carried in position-5 of DAHP, while no isotope effect was detectable for tritium in position-4. This effect was observed at different pH nad is interpreted as a result of theintermediary of a 5-ketonic form of the substrate, formed in a preliminary non limiting step during the enzymic cyclization reaction. A tentative scheme for the 3-DHQ synthetase reaction is proposed involving five steps: oxidation by NAD+ in position-5, phsophate elimination after enolization, reduction with precedently formed NADH and cyclization by attack of the 2-carbonyl by the C-7 methylene group.

Organization of enzymes in the polyaromatic synthetic pathway: separability in bacteria.

ULTRACENTRIFUGATION IN SUCROSE DENSITY GRADIENTS WAS EMPLOYED TO ESTIMATE THE MOLECULAR WEIGHTS AND TO DETERMINE POSSIBLE PHYSICAL AGGREGATION OF THE FIVE ENZYMES CATALYZING STEPS TWO TO SIX IN THE PRECHORISMIC ACID PORTION OF THE POLYAROMATIC SYNTHETIC PATHWAY IN SIX SPECIES OF BACTERIA: Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Aerobacter aerogenes, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Streptomyces coelicolor. The five enzymes were not aggregated in extracts of any of the species examined, nor are the genes encoding these enzymes clustered in those bacterial species for which genetic evidence exists. (An initial examination of the blue-green alga Anabaena variabilis indicates nonaggregation in this species also.) This situation in bacteria is in marked contrast to that found in Neurospora crassa and other fungi in which the same five enzymes are associated as an aggregate encoded (at least in the case of N. crassa) by a cluster of five genes. In addition, also in contrast to N. crassa, no evidence was obtained for more than one kind of dehydroquinase activity in any of the bacteria examined. These comparative results are discussed in relation to the origin, evolution, and functional significance of the gene-enzyme relationships existing in the early steps of aromatic biosynthesis in bacteria and fungi.

Organization of enzymes in the common aromatic synthetic pathway: evidence for aggregation in fungi.

Centrifugation in sucrose density gradients of partially purified extracts from six species of fungi, i.e., Rhizopus stolonifer, Phycomyces nitens, Absidia glauca (Phycomycetes), Aspergillus nidulans (Ascomycetes), Coprinus lagopus, and Ustilago maydis (Basidiomycetes), indicate that the five enzymes catalyzing steps two to six in the prechorismic acid part of the polyaromatic synthetic pathway sediment together. The sedimentation coefficients for these enzymes are very similar in the six species and are comparable to those previously observed for the multienzyme complexes (arom aggregates) of Neurospora crassa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These results are interpreted as indicating the presence in each of these fungi of arom aggregates, presumably encoded by arom gene clusters similar to those in N. crassa and S. cerevisiae. Evidence has also been obtained for the presence in two species (A. nidulans and U. maydis) and the absence in the other four species of a second dehydroquinase isozyme which is distinguishable from the synthetic activity on the basis of both thermostability tests and S values. This second dehydroquinase, which is apparently involved in the catabolism of quinic acid via a pathway similar to that in N. crassa, is inducible in A. nidulans (as it is in N. crassa), but constitutive in U. maydis. These comparative findings are discussed in relation to the organization, evolution, and possible functional relationships of synthetic and catabolic aromatic pathways in fungi.