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. 1994 Feb;60(2):709–714. doi: 10.1128/aem.60.2.709-714.1994

Biosynthetic Pathway for Veratryl Alcohol in the Ligninolytic Fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium

Kenneth A Jensen Jr 1, Kathryn M C Evans 1, T Kent Kirk 1, Kenneth E Hammel 1,*
PMCID: PMC201370  PMID: 16349197

Abstract

Veratryl alcohol (VA) is a secondary metabolite of white-rot fungi that produce the ligninolytic enzyme lignin peroxidase. VA stabilizes lignin peroxidase, promotes the ability of this enzyme to oxidize a variety of physiological substrates, and is accordingly thought to play a significant role in fungal ligninolysis. Pulse-labeling and isotope-trapping experiments have now clarified the pathway for VA biosynthesis in the white-rot basidiomycete Phanerochaete chrysosporium. The pulse-labeling data, obtained with 14C-labeled phenylalanine, cinnamic acid, benzoic acid, and benzaldehyde, showed that radiocarbon labeling followed a reproducible sequence: it peaked first in cinnamate, then in benzoate and benzaldehyde, and finally in VA. Phenylalanine, cinnamate, benzoate, and benzaldehyde were all efficient precursors of VA in vivo. The isotope-trapping experiments showed that exogenous, unlabeled benzoate and benzaldehyde were effective traps of phenylalanine-derived 14C. These results support a pathway in which VA biosynthesis proceeds as follows: phenylalanine → cinnamate → benzoate and/or benzaldehyde → VA.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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