Functional genomics exploring the shikimate and phenylpropanoid pathway: the physiological role of shikimate and quinate esters

莽草酸途径连接初级代谢与芳香族氨基酸的生物合成。在植物中，这些不仅是蛋白质生物合成不可缺少的，而且是许多天然产物的合成，包括木质素，这是定量的莽草酸途径的最重要的水槽。木质素的数量和组成决定了木材的质量，但也是从木材生产纸浆和生物燃料的主要障碍。近年来，苯丙烷和莽草酸途径之间的密切关系已被重新审视。现在清楚的是，第一木质素特异性步骤使用远上游莽草酸途径的辅因子中间体（即莽草酸）。在这里，我计划解决的假设，这种生物化学耦合可能会阻止不可逆的碳流入木质素的时候，莽草酸的数量不足，以确保足够的芳香族氨基酸可用于其他活动（如蛋白质生物合成）。

The shikimate pathway connects primary metabolism with the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids. In plants, these are indispensable not only for protein biosynthesis, but also for the synthesis of numerous natural products including lignin, which is quantitatively the most important sink of the shikimate pathway. Lignin quantity and composition determines wood quality, but is a major hindrance in pulp and biofuel generation from wood. In recent years, the close relationship between the phenylpropanoid and shikimate pathways has been revisited. It is now clear that the first lignin specific step uses as a cofactor intermediates of the far upstream shikimate pathway (namely shikimate). Here I plan to address the hypothesis that this biochemical coupling may prevent irreversible carbon flow into lignin at times when insufficient amounts of shikimate are available to ensure that sufficient aromatic amino acids are available for other activities (e.g. protein biosynthesis).