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

莽草酸途径将初级代谢与芳香族氨基酸的生物合成联系起来。在植物中，这些不仅对于蛋白质生物合成是必不可少的，而且对于包括木质素在内的许多天然产物的合成也是必不可少的，木质素在数量上是莽草酸途径最重要的库。木质素的数量和成分决定了木材的质量，但却是从木材生产纸浆和生物燃料的主要障碍。近年来，人们重新审视了苯丙素和莽草酸途径之间的密切关系。现在很清楚，第一个木质素特异性步骤用作远上游莽草酸途径（即莽草酸）的辅因子中间体。在这里，我计划提出这样一个假设：当没有足够的莽草酸盐来确保有足够的芳香族氨基酸可用于其他活动（例如蛋白质生物合成）时，这种生化偶联可能会阻止不可逆的碳流入木质素。

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).