Tyrosine biosynthesis in Sorghum bicolor: characteristics of prephenate aminotransferase

A stable activity which transfers the amino group from glutamate to prephenate was extracted from 4-day old etiolated shoots of sorghum. The activity was retained on DEAE cellulose and eluted as a single peak. Prephenate aminotransferase co-eluted with a very abundant alpha-ketoglutarate: aspartate aminotransferase, but heating at 70 degrees C resulted in loss of alpha-ketoglutarate: aspartate activity with nearly full retention of prephenate: glutamate aminotransferase activity. The heated enzyme displayed high affinity and specificity for prephenate. Among 7 donors tested, only glutamate, and aspartate at less than 20% the rate with glutamate, supported prephenate aminotransferase activity. In the reverse direction, a reaction rate comparable to that in the forward direction was unchanged as the concentration of alpha-ketoglutarate was reduced from 1.0 to 0.09 mM. The apparent Km for arogenate was 0.8 mM. The forward reaction was unaffected by the inclusion of tyrosine, phenylalanine or tryptophan. Together with the discovery of arogenate dehydrogenase in sorghum [3], these data indicate that, in the sorghum plant, tyrosine derives from prephenate by transamination and aromatization, rather than the reverse sequence.