Plant Cell BIOBASE Corporation
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Plant Cell Advance Online Publication
Published on October 19, 2007; 10.1105/tpc.107.054155

This Article
Right arrow Full Text - TPC Advance Online Pub. (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
19/10/3212    most recent
tpc.107.054155v1
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 PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kapteyn, J.
Right arrow Articles by Gang, D. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kapteyn, J.
Right arrow Articles by Gang, D. R.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Kapteyn, J.
Right arrow Articles by Gang, D. R.

Received July 16, 2007
Returned for revision September 18, 2007
Accepted September 24, 2007

Evolution of Cinnamate/p-Coumarate Carboxyl Methyltransferases and Their Role in the Biosynthesis of Methylcinnamate

Jeremy Kapteyn 1, Anthony V. Qualley 2, Zhengzhi Xie 3, Eyal Fridman 4, Natalia Dudareva 2, and David R. Gang 1*

1 Department of Plant Sciences and BIO5 Institute for Collaborative Bioresearch, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721
2 Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907
3 Department of Plant Sciences and BIO5 Institute for Collaborative Bioresearch, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721; College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721
4 Faculty of Agricultural, Food Quality, and Environmental Sciences, Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gang{at}ag.arizona.edu.

Methylcinnamate, which is widely distributed throughout the plant kingdom, is a significant component of many floral scents and an important signaling molecule between plants and insects. Comparison of an EST database obtained from the glandular trichomes of a basil (Ocimum basilicum) variety that produces high levels of methylcinnamate (line MC) with other varieties producing little or no methylcinnamate identified several very closely related genes belonging to the SABATH family of carboxyl methyltransferases that are highly and almost exclusively expressed in line MC. Biochemical characterization of the corresponding recombinant proteins showed that cinnamate and p-coumarate are their best substrates for methylation, thus designating these enzymes as cinnamate/p-coumarate carboxyl methyltransferases (CCMTs). Gene expression, enzyme activity, protein profiling, and metabolite content analyses demonstrated that CCMTs are responsible for the formation of methylcinnamate in sweet basil. A phylogenetic analysis of the entire SABATH family placed these CCMTs into a clade that includes indole-3-acetic acid carboxyl methyltransferases and a large number of uncharacterized carboxyl methyltransferase–like proteins from monocots and lower plants. Structural modeling and ligand docking suggested active site residues that appear to contribute to the substrate preference of CCMTs relative to other members of the SABATH family. Site-directed mutagenesis of specific residues confirmed these findings.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
G. Scalliet, F. Piola, C. J. Douady, S. Rety, O. Raymond, S. Baudino, K. Bordji, M. Bendahmane, C. Dumas, J. M. Cock, et al.
From the Cover: Scent evolution in Chinese roses
PNAS, April 15, 2008; 105(15): 5927 - 5932.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
ASPB Publications THE PLANT CELL PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Copyright © 2007 by the American Society of Plant Biologists