Plant Metabolism and Biotechnology

List of Contributors xiii Preface xv 1 Biosynthesis and Metabolism of Starch and Sugars 1 Frederik Bornke and Sophia Sonnewald 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Carbon Partitioning in Mesophyll Cells 2 1.3 Sucrose Biosynthesis in Source Leaves 3 1.4 Starch Metabolism in Source Leaves 7 1.5 Sucrose to Starch Conversion in Storage Organs 12 1.6 Metabolic Engineering of Carbohydrate Metabolism 14 1.7 Engineering Soluble Sugars 16 1.8 Production of Novel Carbohydrates in Transgenic Plants 17 1.9 Network Analysis of Carbohydrate Metabolism 18 Acknowledgements 19 References 19 2 Lipid Biosynthesis 27 David Hildebrand 2.1 Introduction 27 2.2 Fatty Acid Synthesis 29 2.3 Fatty Acid Desaturases 32 2.4 Lipid Signals 38 2.5 Algae 38 2.6 Membrane Synthesis 39 2.7 TAG Biosynthesis 43 2.8 Genetic Engineering of Oilseed for Industrial Uses 46 2.9 Plant Oils as a Renewable Resource 48 Acknowledgements 51 References 52 3 Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation 67 Hiroshi Kouchi 3.1 Nitrogen Fixing Organisms and the Nitrogenase System 67 3.2 Symbiotic Nodule Formation in Legume Plants 70 3.3 Mutual Interactions between Host Cells and Bacteroids in Legume Nodules 76 3.4 Molecular Genetic Approaches to the Host Regulation of Nitrogen Fixation 83 Acknowledgements 92 References 92 4 Sulfur Metabolism 103 Hideki Takahashi 4.1 Introduction 103 4.2 Sulfate Transport 104 4.3 Sulfate Reduction 111 4.4 Cysteine Biosynthesis 114 4.5 Methionine Biosynthesis 117 4.6 Regulators for Coordination of Sulfur Metabolism 118 References 121 5 Nucleotide Metabolism 135 Rita Zrenner and Hiroshi Ashihara 5.1 Introduction 135 5.2 Pyrimidine Metabolism 136 5.3 Purine Metabolism 142 5.4 Pyridine Metabolism 149 5.5 Biotechnological Approaches 152 References 156 6 Purine Alkaloid Metabolism 163 Hiroshi Ashihara, Shinjiro Ogita and Alan Crozier 6.1 Introduction 163 6.2 Classification of Purine Alkaloids 166 6.3 Occurrence of Purine Alkaloids 166 6.4 Biosynthesis of Caffeine 167 6.5 Catabolism of Caffeine 171 6.6 Physiological and Ecological Aspects of Purine Alkaloid Metabolism in Plants 173 6.7 Metabolic Engineering of Caffeine In Planta 176 References 184 7 Nicotine Biosynthesis 191 Tsubasa Shoji and Takashi Hashimoto 7.1 Introduction 191 7.2 Pathways and Enzymes 192 7.3 Compartmentation and Trafficking 200 7.4 Gene Regulation 203 7.5 Metabolic Engineering 207 7.6 Recent Developments 208 7.7 Summary 208 References 208 8 Terpenoid Biosynthesis 217 Dae-Kyun Ro 8.1 Introduction 217 8.2 Terpenoid Diversity 218 8.3 Mechanistic Aspects of Terpenoid Biogenesis 222 8.4 Terpene Synthase Structure, Evolution and Engineering 223 8.5 Two Distinct Pathways for Isopentenyl Diphosphate (IPP) Biosynthesis 225 8.6 Subcellular and Cellular Compartmentalisations of Terpenoid Metabolism 228 8.7 Gene Clusters in Terpenoid Metabolism 230 8.8 Metabolic Engineering of Terpenoid Metabolism 231 8.9 Concluding Remarks 235 References 235 9 Benzylisoquinoline Alkaloid Biosynthesis 241 Isabel Desgagn'e-Penix and Peter J Facchini 9.1 Introduction 241 9.2 Biosynthesis 242 9.3 Localisation and Transport of Benzylisoquinoline Alkaloids and their Biosynthetic Enzymes 249 9.3.1 Cellular and Subcellular Localisation 249 9.3.2 Transport 251 9.4 Regulation 251 9.4.1 Gene Regulation 251 9.4.2 Signal Transduction 251 9.5 Application to Biotechnology 252 9.5.1 Mutagenesis 252 9.5.2 Genetic Transformation and Metabolic Engineering 252 9.5.3 Metabolic Engineering 254 9.6 Conclusions 254 References 254 10 Monoterpenoid Indole Alkaloid Biosynthesis 263 Vincenzo De Luca 10.1 Introduction 263 10.2 Monoterpenoid Indole Alkaloid (MIA) Biosynthesis 265 10.3 MIA Pathway Gene Discovery will be Enhanced by Large-Scale Sequencing and Comparative Analyses 271 10.4 Developmental and Environmental Regulation of MIA Biosynthesis 272 10.5 Metabolic Engineering using Enzymes with Altered Substrate Specificity 282 10.6 Conclusion 282 Acknowledgements 283 References 283 11 Flavonoid Biosynthesis 293 Indu B. Jaganath and Alan Crozier 11.1 Introduction 293 11.2 Advances in Molecular Approaches for Flavonoid Biosynthetic Pathway Elucidation 294 11.3 The Flavonoid Biosynthetic Pathway as it is Today 299 11.4 Conclusions 311 References 313 12 Pigment Biosynthesis I. Anthocyanins 321 Yoshihiro Ozeki, Yuki Matsuba, Yutaka Abe, Naoyuki Umemoto and Nobuhiro Sasaki 12.1 Introduction 321 12.2 The Anthocyanin Biosynthetic Pathway 322 12.3 Glycosylation of Anthocyanidins 325 12.4 Acylation of Anthocyanin Glycosides 327 12.5 Transport of Anthocyanins from Cytosol to Vacuoles 331 12.6 Concluding Remarks 335 References 336 13 Pigment Biosynthesis II: Betacyanins and Carotenoids 343 Masaaki Sakuta and Akemi Ohmiya 13.1 Betacyanins 343 13.2 Carotenoids 350 13.3 Metabolic Engineering of Carotenoids 357 References 361 14 Metabolomics in Plant Biotechnology 373 Yozo Okazaki, Akira Oikawa, Miyako Kusano, Fumio Matsuda and Kazuki Saito 14.1 Introduction 373 14.2 Analytical Technologies 373 14.3 Informatics Techniques 376 14.4 Biotechnological Application 378 Acknowledgements 381 References 381 Index 389