Functional analysis of the Arabidopsis thaliana GCPE protein involved in plastid isoprenoid biosynthesis

Plastid isoprenoids are synthesized via the 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate pathway. A few years after its discovery, most of the Escherichia coli genes involved in the pathway have been identified, including gcpE. In this work, we have identified an Arabidopsis thaliana protein with homology to...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Querol, Jordi, Campos Martínez, Narciso, Imperial Ródenas, Santiago, Boronat i Margosa, Albert, Rodríguez Concepción, Manuel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2002
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/225888
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/225888
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Proteïnes vegetals
Biologia molecular vegetal
Plant proteins
Plant molecular biology
Descripción
Sumario:Plastid isoprenoids are synthesized via the 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate pathway. A few years after its discovery, most of the Escherichia coli genes involved in the pathway have been identified, including gcpE. In this work, we have identified an Arabidopsis thaliana protein with homology to the product of this gene. The plant polypeptide, GCPE, contains two structural domains that are absent in the E. coli protein: an N-terminal extension and a central domain of 30 kDa. We demonstrate that the N-terminal region targets the Arabidopsis protein to chloroplasts in vivo, consistent with its role in plastid isoprenoid biosynthesis. Although the presence of the internal extra domain may have an effect on activity, the Arabidopsis mature GCPE was able to complement a gcpE-defective E. coli strain, indicating the plant protein is a true functional homologue of the bacterial gcpE gene product.