title: UDP-glucose dehydrogenases of maize: a role in cell wall pentose biosynthesis.
abstract: UDPGDH (UDP-D-glucose dehydrogenase) oxidizes UDP-Glc (UDP-D-glucose) to UDP-GlcA (UDP-D-glucuronate), the precursor of UDP-D-xylose and UDP-L-arabinose, major cell wall polysaccharide precursors. Maize (Zea mays L.) has at least two putative UDPGDH genes (A and B), according to sequence similarity to a soya bean UDPGDH gene. The predicted maize amino acid sequences have 95% similarity to that of soya bean. Maize mutants with a Mu-element insertion in UDPGDH-A or UDPGDH-B were isolated (udpgdh-A1 and udpgdh-B1 respectively) and studied for changes in wall polysaccharide biosynthesis. The udpgdh-A1 and udpgdh-B1 homozygotes showed no visible phenotype but exhibited 90 and 60-70% less UDPGDH activity respectively than wild-types in a radiochemical assay with 30 microM UDP-glucose. Ethanol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity varied independently of UDPGDH activity, supporting the hypothesis that ADH and UDPGDH activities are due to different enzymes in maize. When extracts from wild-types and udpgdh-A1 homozygotes were assayed with increasing concentrations of UDP-Glc, at least two isoforms of UDPGDH were detected, having K(m) values of approx. 380 and 950 microM for UDP-Glc. Leaf and stem non-cellulosic polysaccharides had lower Ara/Gal and Xyl/Gal ratios in udpgdh-A1 homozygotes than in wild-types, whereas udpgdh-B1 homozygotes exhibited more variability among individual plants, suggesting that UDPGDH-A activity has a more important role than UDPGDH-B in UDP-GlcA synthesis. The fact that mutation of a UDPGDH gene interferes with polysaccharide synthesis suggests a greater importance for the sugar nucleotide oxidation pathway than for the myo-inositol pathway in UDP-GlcA biosynthesis during post-germinative growth of maize.
authors.affiliation: The Edinburgh Cell Wall Group, Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Daniel Rutherford Building, The King's Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JH, UK.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kärkönen
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Murigneux
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Martinant
authors.forename: Elodie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pepey
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tatout
authors.forename: Bernard J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Dudley
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Fry
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010429:Pentoses / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014533:Uridine Diphosphate Glucose Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D010429:Pentoses; D014533:Uridine Diphosphate Glucose Dehydrogenase