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Pyruvate decarboxylase provides growing pollen tubes with a competitive advantage in petunia.

Rapid pollen tube growth places unique demands on energy production and biosynthetic capacity. The aim of this work is to understand how primary metabolism meets the demands of such rapid growth. Aerobically grown pollen produce ethanol in large quantities. The ethanolic fermentation pathway consists of two committed enzymes: pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). Because adh mutations do not affect male gametophyte function, the obvious question is why pollen synthesize an abundant enzyme if they could do just as well without. Using transposon tagging in Petunia hybrida, we isolated a null mutant in pollen-specific Pdc2. Growth of the mutant pollen tubes through the style is reduced, and the mutant allele shows reduced transmission through the male, when in competition with wild-type pollen. We propose that not ADH but rather PDC is the critical enzyme in a novel, pollen-specific pathway. This pathway serves to bypass pyruvate dehydrogenase enzymes and thereby maintain biosynthetic capacity and energy production under the unique conditions prevailing during pollen-pistil interaction.

Germination↗

Zinc(II) and cadmium(II) metal complexes of thiamine pyrophosphate and 2-(alpha-hydroxyethyl)thiamine pyrophosphate: models for activation of pyruvate decarboxylase.

Metal complexes of thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) of the general formula [M2(TPPH)2Cl2]x4H2O (M = Zn2+, Cd2+) were isolated from methanolic solutions and characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, and multinuclear NMR spectroscopies. The data provide evidence for the bonding of the metals to the N(1') atom of the pyrimidine ring and to the pyrophosphate group. The stability constant measurements of TPP and 2-(alpha-hydroxyethyl)thiamine pyrophosphate (HETPP) metal complexes in aqueous solution imply the formation of dimeric complex species similar to the isolated solid products. They indicate also that HETPP forms more stable metal complexes than does TPP. To evaluate the coenzyme action of TPP and HETPP metal complexes, enzymic studies have been done using pyruvate decarboxylase apoenzyme. TPP metal complexes do not bind to the apoenzyme, unlike the Zn(II)-HETPP complex which can act as coenzyme. Considering these results, possible functional implications for thiamine involvement in catalysis are discussed.

Apoenzymes↗

Computational studies on the decarboxylation of 2-(1-carboxy-1-hydroxyethyl)-3,4-dimethylthiazolium dipolar ion, an analog of the complex of pyruvic acid and coenzyme of the pyruvate decarboxylase.

We have obtained the optimized geometrical structure of 2-(1-carboxy-1-hydroxyethyl)-3,4-dimethylthiazolium dipolar ion and investigated its geometric and electric changes during decarboxylation process by the MNDO-PM3 method, a molecular orbital method. The salient features of the optimized structure are that the dihedral angle of C4-C1-C2-S3 is 5.4 degrees and the distance between thiazolium S3 and carboxyl O6 is about 1.8 A (the bond order between S3 and O6 is about 0.4). The lowest energy decarboxylation profile is the following process. First the dihedral angle of C4-C1-C2-S3 becomes about 90 degrees, then the distance between C1-C2 increases while the dihedral angle holds about 90 degrees, and finally the C1-C2 bond disappears. The most remarkable change caused by the 90 degrees rotation is the disappearance of the S3-O6 bond, and this disappearance causes electric changes that prompt the decarboxylation.

Mathematics↗

Partial pyruvate decarboxylase deficiency with profound lactic acidosis and hyperammonemia: responses to dichloroacetate and benzoate.

We describe the successful use of sodium benzoate in a neonate with hyperammonemia associated with congenital lactic acidosis caused by a partial deficiency of the E1 component of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH); of note, this biochemical disturbance has not been previously described in PDH deficiency. The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex in skin fibroblasts had 48% of normal activity with a deficiency of the E1 component. The infant presented with rapid onset of a severe metabolic lactic acidosis, hyperventilation, hyperammonemia, and coma. At 30 hours of age continuous peritoneal dialysis was started; however, plasma NH3 concentrations remained in the 300-400 micrograms/dl range over the next 12 hours. Sodium benzoate, 250 mg/kg, was infused intravenously with a decrease in plasma ammonia of 25 micrograms/dl/hr. Hippurate was documented in the urine and peritoneal fluid after benzoate therapy. At 10.5 months of age, 50 mg/kg dichloroacetate was administered orally under fasting conditions, which resulted in a 56 and 62% reduction in the serum lactate and pyruvate levels, respectively; after 2 weeks on dichloroacetate his fasting levels were significantly decreased. Fibroblast PDH activity responded similarly to this drug. In our patient sodium benzoate was rapidly effective in producing a decline in plasma ammonia that was associated with clinical improvement. We feel that its use in organic acidemias deserves further evaluation and, furthermore, that any child with suspected PDH deficiency requires a clinical trial of dichloroacetate.

Acidosis↗

[Design of recombinant plasmids for effective Zymomonas mobilis pyruvate decarboxylase (pdk) gene expression in Bacillus subtilis cells].

The pdk gene from Z. mobilis localized on the 4.7-kb SpHI DNA fragment in plasmid pB201 was subcloned using DraI restriction endonuclease into the SmaI site of the phage cloning vector M13mp19. The derivatives of M13mp19 obtained, containing 1.8-kb inserts of the pdk gene in two opposite orientations, were used for DNA sequencing and site-directed mutagenesis. The latter was performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and synthetic deoxyribonucleotides of appropriate structure as primers. In this way a BamHI site near the initial (formylmethionine) codon of the pdk gene was created. After amplification the pdk gene was treated by restriction endonuclease BamHI and cloned into pUC19, and then recloned into shuttle vector pCB20 capable of replicating in both Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria. A recombinant plasmid pCB20pdkI--a derivative of pCB20 carrying the pdk gene under control of the "expression unit" EU19035 containing a bacillar vegetative promoter and an RBS site was obtained. The properties of the pCB20pdkI in E. coli and Bac. subtilis cells were studied. It was shown that pCB20pdkI determines a high level of PDK synthesis in Bac. subtilis. At the same time, it strongly inhibits E. coli cell growth and segregates rapidly from this host.

Bacillus subtilis↗