Reference "Plant B vitamin pathways and their compartmentation: a guide for the perplexed"

Reference ID

54963

Title

Plant B vitamin pathways and their compartmentation: a guide for the perplexed

Source

J Exp Bot, 2012, vol. 63, pp. -

Authors (7)

Gerdes-S	Lerma-Ortiz-C
Frelin-O	Seaver-S-M
Henry-C-S	de-Crecy-Lagard-V
Hanson-A-D

Abstract

The B vitamins and the cofactors derived from them are essential for life. B
vitamin synthesis in plants is consequently as crucial to plants themselves as
it is to humans and animals, whose B vitamin nutrition depends largely on
plants. The synthesis and salvage pathways for the seven plant B vitamins are
now broadly known, but certain enzymes and many transporters have yet to be
identified, and the subcellular locations of various reactions are unclear.
Although very substantial, what is not known about plant B vitamin pathways is
regrettably difficult to discern from the literature or from biochemical pathway
databases. Nor do databases accurately represent all that is known about B
vitamin pathways-above all their compartmentation-because the facts are
scattered throughout the literature, and thus hard to piece together. These
problems (i) deter discoveries because newcomers to B vitamins cannot see which
mysteries still need solving; and (ii) impede metabolic reconstruction and
modelling of B vitamin pathways because genes for reactions or transport steps
are missing. This review therefore takes a fresh approach to capture current
knowledge of B vitamin pathways in plants. The synthesis pathways, key salvage
routes, and their subcellular compartmentation are surveyed in depth, and
encoded in the SEED database
(http://pubseed.theseed.org/seedviewer.cgi?page=PlantGateway) for Arabidopsis
and maize. The review itself and the encoded pathways specifically identify
enigmatic or missing reactions, enzymes, and transporters. The SEED-encoded B
vitamin pathway collection is a publicly available, expertly curated, one-stop
resource for metabolic reconstruction and modeling.