Regulation of Arabidopsis shikimate pathway

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This application involves the functional annotation of enzymes of the shikimate pathway. The shikimate pathway produces precursors for the synthesis of the aromatic amino acids phenylalanine (Phe), tyrosine (Tyr) and tryptophan (Trp). They are used by plants to synthesize many aromatic compounds; including phytoalexins, flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, indole hormones and lignin. In plants, these molecules have important biological roles in cellular signaling, pathogen defense, UV protection, and structural support. In addition the shikimate pathway has important therapeutic and biotechnological applications. The pathway is absent in animals, but present in plants and microbes, which makes it an ideal target for herbicides and anti-microbial agents. A variety of shikimate pathway-derived flavonoids and phenylpropanoids have also been shown to have a wide range of health benefits because of their antioxidant properties. Therefore, the overall goal of our research program is to understand how the shikimate pathway is regulated so that we can modulate its properties to achieve desirable end products. We will be focusing on three enzymes, shikimate kinase, shikimate dehydrogenase and DAHP synthase, because they are found to participate in the regulation of the shikimate pathway. There are three enzyme forms of DAHP synthase in Arabidopsis and are found to be differentially regulated by the aromatic amino acids. Four shikimate kinase gene duplicates are found in Arabidopsis and are shown to have evolved distinct biological functions. Similarly, five classes of shikimate dehydrogenases are found in microbes, each of which has a specific biological role.