Nature Chemical Biology 2013-04-01

Coordination of auxin and ethylene biosynthesis by the aminotransferase VAS1.

Zuyu Zheng, Yongxia Guo, Ondřej Novák, Xinhua Dai, Yunde Zhao, Karin Ljung, Joseph P Noel, Joanne Chory

Index: Nat. Chem. Biol. 9(4) , 244-6, (2013)

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Abstract

We identify an Arabidopsis pyridoxal-phosphate-dependent aminotransferase, VAS1, whose loss-of-function simultaneously increases amounts of the phytohormone auxin and the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate. VAS1 uses the ethylene biosynthetic intermediate methionine as an amino donor and the auxin biosynthetic intermediate indole-3-pyruvic acid as an amino acceptor to produce L-tryptophan and 2-oxo-4-methylthiobutyric acid. Our data indicate that VAS1 serves key roles in coordinating the amounts of these two vital hormones.