The biosynthetic pathway of vitamin C in higher plants
Abstract
Vitamin C (uc(L)-ascorbic acid) has important antioxidant and metabolic functions in both plants and animals, but humans, and a few other animal species, have lost the capacity to synthesize it1. Plant-derived ascorbate is thus the major source of vitamin C in the human diet. Although the biosynthetic pathway of uc(L)-ascorbic acid in animals is well understood2, the plant pathway has remained unknown3—one of the few primary plant metabolic pathways forwhich this is the case. uc(L)-ascorbate is abundant in plants (found at concentrations of 1-5 mM in leaves and 25 mM in chloroplasts3,4) and may have roles in photosynthesis and transmembrane electron transport3,4,5. We found that uc(D)-mannose and uc(L)-galactose are efficient precursors for ascorbate synthesis and are interconverted by GDP-uc(D)-mannose-3,5-epimerase. We have identified an enzyme in pea and Arabidopsis thaliana, uc(L)-galactose dehydrogenase, that catalyses oxidation of uc(L)-galactose to uc(L)-galactono-1,4-lactone. We propose anascorbate biosynthesis pathway involving GDP-uc(D)-mannose, GDP-uc(L)-galactose, uc(L)-galactose and uc(L)-galactono-1,4-lactone, and have synthesized ascorbate from GDP-uc(D)-mannose by way of these intermediates in vitro. The definition of this biosynthetic pathway should allow engineering of plants for increased ascorbate production, thus increasing their nutritional value and stress tolerance.
- Publication:
-
Nature
- Pub Date:
- May 1998
- DOI:
- 10.1038/30728
- Bibcode:
- 1998Natur.393..365W