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Plant B vitamin pathways and their compartmentation: a guide for the perplexed
Svetlana Gerdes1, Claudia Lerma-Ortiz, Océane Frelin
1Mathematics and Computer Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439 USA.
Journal of Experimental Botany
|August 24, 2012
Summary
Plant B vitamin pathways are essential for life, but gaps in knowledge hinder research. This review clarifies known pathways and identifies missing components for better metabolic modeling.
Area of Science:
- Plant biochemistry
- Metabolic pathways
- Nutritional science
Background:
- B vitamins are essential for all life, with plants serving as a primary source for humans and animals.
- While plant B vitamin synthesis and salvage pathways are largely understood, many enzymes and transporters remain unidentified, and reaction locations are unclear.
- Existing literature and databases inadequately represent the full scope of plant B vitamin pathways, particularly their subcellular compartmentation, hindering research progress.
Purpose of the Study:
- To consolidate and clarify current knowledge of plant B vitamin pathways, including synthesis, salvage, and subcellular compartmentation.
- To identify gaps in knowledge, such as missing enzymes, transporters, and reactions, within plant B vitamin metabolism.
- To create a comprehensive, publicly accessible resource for researchers to facilitate metabolic reconstruction and modeling.
Main Methods:
- Comprehensive literature review of plant B vitamin synthesis and salvage pathways.
- In-depth survey of subcellular compartmentation for known B vitamin reactions.
- Encoding of curated pathway information into the SEED database for Arabidopsis and maize.
Main Results:
- Detailed survey of plant B vitamin synthesis and salvage pathways, highlighting their subcellular compartmentation.
- Identification of numerous enigmatic or missing reactions, enzymes, and transporters within these pathways.
- Development of the SEED-encoded B vitamin pathway collection as a centralized resource.
Conclusions:
- The SEED database provides a unified, expertly curated resource for plant B vitamin pathways, addressing critical knowledge gaps.
- This resource will aid researchers in metabolic reconstruction, modeling, and identifying future research directions in plant B vitamin metabolism.
- Clarifying these pathways is crucial for advancing plant biology and understanding the fundamental role of B vitamins in ecosystems.
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