Abstract
The biosynthesis of DIMBOA, a pesticidal secondary metabolite of maize, branches off the tryptophan pathway. We have previously demonstrated that indole is the last intermediate common to both the tryptophan and hydroxamic acid pathways. The earliest discovered mutant in the DIMBOA pathway, bxbx (benzoxazineless), is deficient in the production of DIMBOA and related compounds. This paper presents evidence that a gene identified by Kramer and Koziel [Kramer, V. C. & Koziel, M. G. (1995) Plant Mol. Biol. 27, 1183-1188] as maize tryptophan synthase alpha (TSA) is the site of the genetic lesion in the DIMBOA-deficient mutant maize line bxbx. We demonstrate that the TSA gene has sustained a 924-bp deletion in bxbx compared with its counterpart in wild-type maize. We report that the TSA gene maps to the same location as the bxbx mutation, on the short arm of chromosome 4. We present evidence that the very early and very high level of expression of TSA corresponds to the timing and level of DIMBOA biosynthesis but is strikingly different from the expression of the maize tryptophan synthase beta (TSB) genes. We show that feeding indole to bxbx seedlings restores their ability to synthesize DIMBOA. We conclude that the maize enzyme initially named tryptophan synthase alpha in fact is a DIMBOA biosynthetic enzyme, and we propose that it be renamed indole synthase. This work confirms and enlarges upon the findings of Frey et al. [Frey, M., Chomet, P., Glawischniq, E., Stettner, C., Grün, S., Winklmair, A., Eisenreich, W., Bacher, A., Meeley, R. B., Briggs, S. P., Simcox, K. & Gierl, A. (1997) Science 277, 696-699], which appeared while the present paper was in review.
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Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
The TSA gene has a 924-bp deletion in bxbx compared with wild-type maize.
Zea maysNot reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“We demonstrate that the TSA gene has sustained a 924-bp deletion in bxbx compared with its counterpart in wild-type maize”
Claim · model-written summary
The TSA gene maps to the same location as the bxbx mutation, on the short arm of chromosome 4.
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize”
e0“We report that the TSA gene maps to the same location as the bxbx mutation, on the short arm of chromosome 4”
Claim · model-written summary
The very early and very high expression of TSA corresponds to the timing and level of DIMBOA biosynthesis but differs strikingly from the expression of the maize tryptophan synthase beta (TSB) genes.
- Gene
- TSAe0
- Outcome
- level of expressione0
- Direction
- very highe0
- Qualifier
- corresponds to the timing and level of DIMBOA biosynthesise0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the very early and very high level of expression of TSA corresponds to the timing and level of DIMBOA biosynthesis but is strikingly different from the expression of the maize tryptophan synthase beta (TSB) genes”
Claim · model-written summary
Feeding indole to bxbx seedlings restores their ability to synthesize DIMBOA.
- Material
- bxbxe0
- Organ / stage
- seedlingse0
- Treatment
- feeding indolee0
- Outcome
- ability to synthesize DIMBOAe0
- Direction
- restorese0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize”
e0“feeding indole to bxbx seedlings restores their ability to synthesize DIMBOA”
Claim · model-written summary
The maize enzyme initially named tryptophan synthase alpha is in fact a DIMBOA biosynthetic enzyme.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“We conclude that the maize enzyme initially named tryptophan synthase alpha in fact is a DIMBOA biosynthetic enzyme”
The same questions in other papers
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