Maize Y9 Encodes a Product Essential for 15-cis-ζ-Carotene Isomerization1[OA]
By Faqiang Li, C. Murillo, E. Wurtzel. Plant Physiology, 2007
169 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Carotenoids are a diverse group of pigments found in plants, fungi, and bacteria. They serve essential functions in plants and provide health benefits for humans and animals. In plants, it was thought that conversion of the C40 carotenoid backbone, 15-cis-phytoene, to all-trans-lycopene, the geometrical isomer required by downstream enzymes, required two desaturases (phytoene desaturase and ζ-carotene desaturase [ZDS]) plus a carotene isomerase (CRTISO), in addition to light-mediated photoisomerization of the 15-cis-double bond; bacteria employ only a single enzyme, CRTI. Characterization of the maize (Zea mays) pale yellow9 (y9) locus has brought to light a new isomerase required in plant carotenoid biosynthesis. We report that maize Y9 encodes a factor required for isomerase activity upstream of CRTISO, which we term Z-ISO, an activity that catalyzes the cis- to trans-conversion of the 15-cis-bond in 9,15,9′-tri-cis-ζ-carotene, the product of phytoene desaturase, to form 9,9′-di-cis-ζ-carotene, the substrate of ZDS. We show that recessive y9 alleles condition accumulation of 9,15,9′-tri-cis-ζ-carotene in dark tissues, such as roots and etiolated leaves, in contrast to accumulation of 9,9′-di-cis-ζ-carotene in a ZDS mutant, viviparous9. We also identify a locus in Euglena gracilis, which is similarly required for Z-ISO activity. These data, taken together with the geometrical isomer substrate requirement of ZDS in evolutionarily distant plants, suggest that Z-ISO activity is not unique to maize, but will be found in all higher plants. Further analysis of this new gene-controlled step is critical to understanding regulation of this essential biosynthetic pathway.
Subfields: Biochemistry, Molecular Biology
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/56f3f3e5dde67ede8b3c7e83ec02d16ff571c3cf
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Citations in the corpus
- Carotenoid metabolism in plants. (2015, unknown): “Y9 in maize or ZIC in Arabidopsis encodes the enzyme Z-ISO, which is essential for the cis-to-trans conversion of the 15-cis-bond in 9,15,90-tri-cis-z-carotene (the product of PDS) to 9,90-di-cis-zcarotene, the substrate of ZDS (Li et al., 2007; Chen et al., 2010).”
- Comprehending crystalline β-carotene accumulation by comparing engineered cell models and the natural carotenoid-rich system of citrus (2011, unknown): “The recent discovery of a previously unknown isomerase step in the carotenoid pathway, ZISO, which mediates isomerization of tri-cis-ζ-carotene to a di-cis-ζ-carotene, highlights the important role isomerase enzymes have in the pathway (Li et al., 2007; Chen et al., 2010).”
- A golden era—pro-vitamin A enhancement in diverse crops (2011, background): “The product of the first desaturation is 9,15,9′-tri-cis-ζ-carotene, which is isomerized by light and/or ζ-carotene isomerase (Z-ISO) to yield 9,9′-di-cis-ζ-carotene, the substrate of ZDS (Li et al. 2007; Chen et al. 2010).”
- Genetic Analysis of Visually Scored Orange Kernel Color in Maize (2013, background): “The desaturation of 9,9¢-di-cis-z-carotene is catalyzed by ZDS, which in combination with carotenoid isomerase (CRTISO) results in the formation of all-trans lycopene—the first colored carotenoid in the pathway (Chen et al., 2010; Li et al., 2007; Matthews et al., 2003).”