Isodityrosine, a new cross-linking amino acid from plant cell-wall glycoprotein

1. Cell-wall hydrolysates from calli of all higher plants tested contained a new phenolic amino acid for which the trivial name isodityrosine is proposed. Isodityrosine was shown to be an oxidatively coupled dimer of tyrosine with the two tyrosine units linked by a diphenyl ether bridge. 2. The amount of isodityrosine in sodium dodecyl sulphate-insoluble cell-wall preparations was proportional to the amount of hydroxyproline. 3. Acidified chlorite split the diphenyl ether bridge of isodityrosine, and concomitantly solubilized the cell-wall glycoprotein. 4. Dithiothreitol inhibited isodityrosine synthesis in vivo, and suppressed in parallel the covalent binding of newly synthesized protein in the cell wall. 5. It is suggested that isodityrosine is an inter-polypeptide cross-link responsible for the insolubility of plant cell-wall glycoprotein.