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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
The Entner–Doudoroff pathway is an overlooked glycolytic route in cyanobacteria and plants
Contributor:
Chen, Xi;
Schreiber, Karoline;
Appel, Jens;
Makowka, Alexander;
Fähnrich, Berit;
Roettger, Mayo;
Hajirezaei, Mohammad R.;
Sönnichsen, Frank D.;
Schönheit, Peter;
Martin, William F.;
Gutekunst, Kirstin
imprint:
National Academy of Sciences, 2016
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Language:
English
ISSN:
0027-8424;
1091-6490
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<p>Glucose degradation pathways are central for energy and carbon metabolism throughout all domains of life. They provide ATP, NAD(P)H, and biosynthetic precursors for amino acids, nucleotides, and fatty acids. It is general knowledge that cyanobacteria and plants oxidize carbohydrates via glycolysis [the Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas (EMP) pathway] and the oxidative pentose phosphate (OPP) pathway. However, we found that both possess a third, previously overlooked pathway of glucose breakdown: the Entner–Doudoroff (ED) pathway. Its key enzyme, 2-keto-3-deoxygluconate-6-phosphate (KDPG) aldolase, is widespread in cyanobacteria, moss, fern, algae, and plants and is even more common among cyanobacteria than phosphofructokinase (PFK), the key enzyme of the EMP pathway. Active KDPG aldolases from the cyanobacterium <italic>Synechocystis</italic> and the plant barley (<italic>Hordeum vulgare</italic>) were biochemically characterized in vitro. KDPG, a metabolite unique to the ED pathway, was detected in both in vivo, indicating an active ED pathway. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that photosynthetic eukaryotes acquired KDPG aldolase from the cyanobacterial ancestors of plastids via endosymbiotic gene transfer. Several <italic>Synechocystis</italic> mutants in which key enzymes of all three glucose degradation pathways were knocked out indicate that the ED pathway is physiologically significant, especially under mixotrophic conditions (light and glucose) and under autotrophic conditions in a day/night cycle, which is probably the most common condition encountered in nature. The ED pathway has lower protein costs and ATP yields than the EMP pathway, in line with the observation that oxygenic photosynthesizers are nutrient-limited, rather than ATP-limited. Furthermore, the ED pathway does not generate futile cycles in organisms that fix CO₂ via the Calvin–Benson cycle.</p>