title: The multifaceted role of aspartate-family amino acids in plant metabolism.
abstract: Plants represent the major sources of human foods and livestock feeds, worldwide. However, the limited content of the essential amino acid lysine in cereal grains represents a major nutritional problem for human and for livestock feeding in developed countries. Optimizing the level of lysine in cereal grains requires extensive knowledge on the biological processes regulating the homeostasis of this essential amino acid as well as the biological consequences of this homeostasis. Manipulating biosynthetic and catabolic enzymes of lysine metabolism enabled an enhanced accumulation of this essential amino acid in seeds. However, this approach had a major effect on the levels of various metabolites of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, revealing a strong interaction between lysine metabolism and cellular energy metabolism. Recent studies discussed here have shed new light on the metabolic processes responsible for the catabolism of lysine, as well as isoleucine, another amino acid of the aspartate-family pathway, into the TCA cycle. Here we discuss progress being made to understand biological processes associated with the catabolism of amino acids of the aspartate-family pathway and its importance for optimal improvement of the nutritional quality of plants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Science, The Weizmnn Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Menny
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kirma
authors.forename: Wagner L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.forename: Alisdair R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Fernie
authors.forename: Gad
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Galili
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism*; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000378:metabolism*; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D002952:Citric Acid Cycle; D019295:Computational Biology; D044927:Electron-Transferring Flavoproteins; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D007506:Iron-Sulfur Proteins; D007532:Isoleucine / Q000378:metabolism; D008239:Lysine / Q000378:metabolism; D009753:Nutritive Value; D000587:Oxidoreductases Acting on CH-NH Group Donors; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D044927:Electron-Transferring Flavoproteins; D007506:Iron-Sulfur Proteins; D007532:Isoleucine; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D000587:Oxidoreductases Acting on CH-NH Group Donors; C023120:electron-transferring-flavoprotein dehydrogenase; D008239:Lysine