Regulation of the shikimate pathways in Arabidopsis

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This project focuses on the plant shikimate metabolic pathway.  The shikimate pathway is important for the biosynthesis of the aromatic amino acids, some vitamins, flavonoids, isoflavonoids and phenylpropanoids.  In plants, more than 30 % of fixed carbon flows through the shikimate pathway for the biosynthesis of these aromatic compounds.  These compounds are important for plant defence and environmental responses, in maintaining plant structural integrity and in their growth and development.   Furthermore, the aromatic amino acids are essential in our diet and flavonoids and isoflavonoids have known phyto properties; for example some isoflavonoids serves as phyto-estrogen.  Some of these compounds also have chemo-therapeutic properties.  The shikimate pathway is also found in fungi, microbes and apicomplexan parasites, but not in humans, as such it is actively being studied for the development of novel drugs and herbicides.  This proposal deals with the biochemical characterization and structure determination of the enzymes dehydroquinate dehydratease, shikimate dehydrogenase and shikimate kinase in Arabidopsis thaliana.