pheA (Rv3838c) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis encodes an allosterically regulated monofunctional prephenate dehydratase that requires both catalytic and regulatory domains for optimum activity

Prephenate dehydratase (PDT) is a key regulatory enzyme in l-phenylalanine biosynthesis. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis, expression of pheA, the gene encoding PDT, has been earlier reported to be iron-dependent (1, 2). We report that M. tuberculosis pheA is also regulated at the protein level by aromatic amino acids. All of the three aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan) are potent allosteric activators of M. tuberculosis PDT. We also provide in vitro evidence that M. tuberculosis PDT does not possess any chorismate mutase activity, which suggests that, unlike many other enteric bacteria (where PDT exists as a fusion protein with chorismate mutase), M. tuberculosis PDT is a monofunctional and a non-fusion protein. Finally, the biochemical and biophysical properties of the catalytic and regulatory domains (ACT domain) of M. tuberculosis PDT were studied to observe that, in the absence of the ACT domain, the enzyme not only loses its regulatory activity but also its catalytic activity. These novel results provide evidence for a monofunctional prephenate dehydratase enzyme from a pathogenic bacterium that exhibits extensive allosteric activation by aromatic amino acids and is absolutely dependent upon the presence of catalytic as well as the regulatory domains for optimum enzyme activity.     

Regulation of enzyme synthesis in the aromatic amino acid pathway of Bacillus subtilus

The control of the synthesis of certain key enzymes of aromatic amino acid biosynthesis was studied. Tyrosine represses the first enzyme of the 3-deoxy-d-arabino heptulosonic acid 7-phosphate pathway, DAHP synthetase, as well as shikimate kinase and chorismate mutase about fivefold in cultures grown under conditions limiting the synthesis of the aromatic amino acids. A mixture of tyrosine and phenylalanine represses twofold further. Tryptophan does not appear to be involved in the control of these enzymes. The specific activity of at least one early enzyme, dehydroquinase, remains essentially constant under a variety of nutritional supplementations. Two enzymes in the terminal branches are repressed by the amino acids they help to synthesize: prephenate dehydrogenase can be repressed fourfold by tyrosine, and anthranilate synthetase can be repressed over 200-fold by tryptophan. There is no evidence that phenylalanine represses prephenate dehydratase. Regulatory mutants have been isolated in which various enzymes of the pathway are no longer repressible. One class is derepressed for several of the prechorismate enzymes, as well as chorismate mutase and prephenate dehydrogenase. In another mutant, several enzymes of tryptophan biosynthesis are no longer repressible. Thus, the rate of synthesis of enzymes at every stage of the pathway is under control of various aromatic amino acids. Tyrosine and phenylalanine control the synthesis of enzymes involved in the synthesis of the three aromatic amino acids. Each terminal branch is under the control of its end product.     

Characterization of a key trifunctional enzyme for aromatic amino acid biosynthesis in Archaeoglobus fulgidus

In the aromatic amino acid biosynthesis pathway, chorismate presents a branch point intermediate that is converted to tryptophan, phenylalanine (Phe), and tyrosine (Tyr). In bacteria, three enzymes catalyze the conversion of chorismate to hydroxyphenylpyruvate or pyruvate. The enzymes, chorismate mutase (CM), prephenate dehydratase (PDT), and prephenate dehydrogenase (PDHG) are either present as distinct proteins or fusions combining two activities. Gene locus AF0227 of Archaeoglobus fulgidus is predicted to encode a fusion protein, AroQ, containing all three enzymatic domains. This work describes the first characterization of a trifunctional AroQ. The A. fulgidus aroQ gene was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant protein purified as a homohexamer with specific activities of 10, 0.51, and 50 U/mg for CM, PDT, and PDHG, respectively. Tyr at 0.5 mM concentration inhibited PDHG activity by 50%, while at 1 mM PDT was activated by 70%. Phe at 5 μM inhibited PDT activity by 66% without affecting the activity of PDHG. A fusion of CM, PDT, and PDHG domains is evident in the genome of only one other organism sequenced to date, that of the hyperthermophilic archaeon, Nanoarchaeum equitans. Such fusions of contiguous activities in a biosynthetic pathway may constitute a primitive strategy for the efficient processing of labile metabolites.     

Degradation and biosynthesis of L-phenylalanine by chloridazon-degrading bacteria]

Incubating chloridazon-degrading bacteria with L-phenylalanine leads to the accumulation of L-2,3-dihydroxyphenylalanine, o-tyrosine and m-tyrosine in the medium. Incubating the bacteria with N-acetyl-L-phenylalanine leads to N-acetyl-(2,3-dihydroxyphenyl)alanine. Using phenylacetic acid as substrate leads to the accumulation of malonic acid. The products are isolated by gel chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography. 2,3-Dihydroxy-L-phenylalanine is attacked by a catechol 2,3-dioxygenase in the presence of Fe2. An unstable yellow compound is formed in this reaction. This meta-cleavage-product is again cleaved by a hydrolase, leading to aspartic acid and 4-hydroxy-2-oxovaleric acid. Both products were isolated fromthe reaction buffer by amino acid analysis and high performance liquid chromatography. The dioxygenase and hydrolase were partially purified and characterized. A new degradation pathway for phenylalanine is discussed and compared with known pathways. The enzymes chorismate mutase, prephenate dehydratase and prephenate dehydrogenase are characterized and inhibition as well as repression are investigated. Only prephenate dehydrogenase is inhibited by phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophane. Chorismate mutase is repressed by phenylalanine, prephenate dehydrogenase by phenylalanine and tyrosine. Prephenate dehydratase is not repressed by aromatic amino acids. Regulation of aromatic amino acid biosynthesis in connection with phenylalanine degradation is discussed.     

Structural analysis of a 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate synthase with an N-terminal chorismate mutase-like regulatory domain

3-Deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate synthase (DAHPS) catalyzes the first step in the biosynthesis of a number of aromatic metabolites. Likely because this reaction is situated at a pivotal biosynthetic gateway, several DAHPS classes distinguished by distinct mechanisms of allosteric regulation have independently evolved. One class of DAHPSs contains a regulatory domain with sequence homology to chorismate mutase-an enzyme further downstream of DAHPS that catalyzes the first committed step in tyrosine/phenylalanine biosynthesis-and is inhibited by chorismate mutase substrate (chorismate) and product (prephenate). Described in this work, structures of the Listeria monocytogenes chorismate/prephenate regulated DAHPS in complex with Mn(2+) and Mn(2+) + phosphoenolpyruvate reveal an unusual quaternary architecture: DAHPS domains assemble as a tetramer, from either side of which chorismate mutase-like (CML) regulatory domains asymmetrically emerge to form a pair of dimers. This domain organization suggests that chorismate/prephenate binding promotes a stable interaction between the discrete regulatory and catalytic domains and supports a mechanism of allosteric inhibition similar to tyrosine/phenylalanine control of a related DAHPS class. We argue that the structural similarity of chorismate mutase enzyme and CML regulatory domain provides a unique opportunity for the design of a multitarget antibacterial.     

Amino Acid Composition of Elm Seeds

In the biosynthetic pathway of aromatic amino acids of Brevibacterium flavum, ratios of each biosynthetic flow at the chorismate branch point were calculated from the reaction velocities of anthranilate synthetase for tryptophan and chorismate mutase for phenylalanine and tyrosine at steady state concentrations of chorismate. When these aromatic amino acids were absent, the ratio was 61, showing an extremely preferential synthesis of tryptophan. The presence of tryptophan at 0.01 mM decreased the ratio to 0.07, showing a diversion of the preferential synthesis to phenylalanine and tyrosine. Complete recovery by glutamate of the ability to synthesize the Millon-positive substance in dialyzed cell extracts confirmed that tyrosine was synthesized via pretyrosine in this organism. Partially purified prephenate aminotransferase, the first enzyme in the tyrosine-specific branch, had a pH optimum of 8.0 and Km’s of 0.45 and 22 mM for prephenate and glutamate, respectively, and its activity was increased 15-fold by pyridoxal-5-phosphate. Neither its activity nor its synthesis was affected at all by the presence of the end product tyrosine or other aromatic amino acids. The ratio of each biosynthetic flow for tyrosine and phenylalanine at the prephenate branch point was calculated from the kinetic equations of prephenate aminotransferase and prephenate dehydratase, the first enzyme in the phenylalanine-specific branch. It showed that tyrosine was synthesized in preference to phenylalanine when phenylalanine and tyrosine were absent. Furthermore, this preferential synthesis was diverted to a balanced synthesis of phenylalanine and tyrosine through activation of prephenate dehydratase by the tyrosine thus synthesized. The feedback inhibition of prephenate dehydratase by phenylalanine was proposed to play a role in maintaining a balanced synthesis when supply of prephenate was decreased by feedback inhibition of 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate (DAHP*) synthetase, the common key enzyme. Overproduction of the end products in various regulatory mutants was also explained by these results.     

大肠杆菌P蛋白和T蛋白的调节结构域互换研究

在细菌、真菌及植物中,分支酸是一种位于关键分叉点上的中间代谢物,是所有芳香族氨基酸合成的共同前体.它可在双功能酶分支酸变位酶(CM)和预苯酸脱水酶(PDT)的催化下合成苯丙氨酸,在另一个双功能酶分支酸变位酶和预苯酸脱氢酶(PDH)的催化下合成酪氨酸.前者被称为P蛋白,后者被称为T蛋白.大肠杆菌P蛋白和T蛋白有着类似的结构,P蛋白由CMp、PDT和调节结构域３个独立结构域组成,其变构调节因子是苯丙氨酸.T蛋白只有CMt和PDH两个独立结构域组成,起变构调节作用的调节结构域与PDH密不可分,其变构调节因子是酪氨酸.为了研究P蛋白和T蛋白的调节结构域的变构调节作用,应用融合蛋白技术将P蛋白和T蛋白的调节结构域进行了互换.结果发现,互换了的调节结构域仍然具有变构调节作用,而且调节结构域的互换导致了变构调节因子的互换,说明调节结构域对酶活性的调节作用是非专一的,而其R结构域与调节因子的结合却是专一的.     

Biochemistry and genetics of chloramphenicol production

In Streptomyces venezuelae, chloramphenicol is derived by an unusual diversion of chorismate, the branchpoint intermediate of the pathway involved in the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids. In the chloramphenicol-producing organism, the DAHP synthetase was neither feedback inhibited nor repressed. Chorismate mutase was not repressed or inhibited by the intermediates or end-products of the shikimate-chorismate pathway. However, anthranilate synthetase and prephenate dehydratase are feedback inhibited by tryptophan and phenylalanine, respectively. During growth, when primary metabolism is not perfectly coordinated, decreasing demand for aromatic amino acids results in shunting of chorismate towards chloramphenicol biosynthesis.The endogenous synthesis of chloramphenicol produced by Streptomyces venezuelae is inhibited by the increasing concentration of chloramphenicol in the medium. Arylamine synthetase, the first enzyme involved in chloramphenicol biosynthesis, is repressed by the secreted chloramphenicol, by dl-p-aminophenylalanine and l-threo-p-aminophenylserinol. The excess intracellular chorismate pool is diverted to other aromatic shunt metabolites if biosynthesis of chloramphenicol is inhibited. There appears to be a glutamine binding protein subunit which is shared by several enzymes involved in amination of the aromatic ring of chorismate.Chloramphenicol producing organism also inactivated intracellular chloramphenicol. However, the resistance of the streptomycetes is due to inducible impermeability of the organism to chloramphenicol during antibiotic production. Streptomyces venezuelae is sensitive to chloramphenicol when it is not engaged in antibiotic production. The resistance to and production of chloramphenicol are induced simultaneously.A linkage map for 17 marker loci using Streptomyces venezuelae has been constructed. Restriction enzyme map of a plasmid from the chloramphenicol-producing streptomycetes has also been developed. The role of the plasmid in chloramphenicol biosynthesis and the life-cycle of the Streptomyces venezuelae is not yet understood.     

Aromatic amino acid biosynthesis: gene-enzyme relationships in Bacillus subtilis

Single step mutants of Bacillus subtilis which required either one or all of the aromatic amino acids for growth were isolated. The relevant gene defect was determined for each mutant by enzyme assays in vitro. A mutant deficient in each enzyme step of aromatic amino acid biosynthesis was found with the exceptions of the shikimate kinase and the phenylalanine and tyrosine transaminases. Representative mutants carrying the defective genes were mapped by deoxyribonucleic acid mediated transformation by reference to the aromatic amino acid gene (aro) cluster and, alternately, to any of the other unlinked aro genes. The genes coding for dehydroquinate synthetase, 3-enol pyruvylshikimate 5-phosphate synthetase, one form of chorismate mutase, and prephenate dehydrogenase are linked to the aro cluster. Except for the previously identified linkage between the genes of 3-deoxy-d-arabino heptulosonic acid 7-phosphate synthetase and one species of chorismate mutase, the other genes involved in this pathway are neither linked to the aro cluster nor to each other.     

Cytosolic and plastidic chorismate mutase isozymes from Arabidopsis thaliana: molecular characterization and enzymatic properties

The three aromatic amino acids phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan are synthesized in the plastids of higher plants. There is, however, biochemical evidence that a cytosolic isoform exists of the enzyme catalysing the first step of that branch of the pathway which is specific for the synthesis of phenylalanine and tyrosine, i.e. chorismate mutase (CM). We now report on the isolation of a cDNA clone encoding a cytosolic CM isozyme from Arabidopsis thaliana that was identified by complementing a CM-deficient Escherichia coli strain. The deduced amino acid sequence of this isozyme was 50% identical to that of a previously isolated plastidic CM, and 41% identical to that of yeast CM. The organ-specific expression patterns of the two CM genes were rather similar, but only the gene encoding the plastidic isozyme was elicitor- and pathogen-inducible. The plastidic CM expressed in E. coli was activated by tryptophan and inhibited by phenylalanine and tyrosine, whereas the cytosolic isozyme was insensitive. The existence of a cytosolic CM isozyme implies that either a cytosolic pathway (partial or complete) for the biosynthesis of phenylalanine and tyrosine exists, or that prephenate, originating from chorismate in the cytosol, is utilized for the synthesis of metabolites other than these two aromatic amino acids.     

Enzyme-enzyme interaction and the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids in Escherichia coli.

The technique of affinity chromatography has been used to demonstrate that enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of tyrosine and phenylalanine in Escherichia coli undergo reversible interactions. Thus it has been shown that the aromatic amino acid aminotransferase (aromatic-amino-acid: 2-oxoglutarate amino-transferase, EC 2.6.1.57) reacts specifically with chorismate mutaseprephenate dehydrogenase (chorismate pyruvate mutase, EC 5.4.99.5 and prephenate: NAD+ oxidoreductase (decarboxylating), EC 1.3.1.12) in the absence of reactants and with chorimate mutase-prephenatedehydratase (prephenate hydro-lyase (decarboxylating), EC 4.2.1.51) in the presence of phyenylpyruvate. Tyrosine causes dissociation of the aminotransferase: mutasedehydrogenase complex while dissociation of the aminotransferase-mutasedehydratase complex occurs on omission of phenylpyruvate. Only the active form of chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydrogenase participates in complex formation.     

Cloning and characterization of an esophageal-gland-specific chorismate mutase from the phytoparasitic nematode Meloidogyne javanica

Root-knot nematodes are obligate plant parasites that alter plant cell growth and development by inducing the formation of giant feeder cells. It is thought that nematodes inject secretions from their esophageal glands into plant cells while feeding, and that these secretions cause giant cell formation. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying the formation of giant cells, a strategy was developed to clone esophageal gland genes from the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne javanica. One clone, shown to be expressed in the nematode's esophageal gland, codes for a potentially secreted chorismate mutase (CM). CM is a key branch-point regulatory enzyme in the shikimate pathway and converts chorismate to prephenate, a precursor of phenylalanine and tyrosine. The shikimate pathway is not found in animals, but in plants, where it produces aromatic amino acids and derivative compounds that play critical roles in growth and defense. Therefore, we hypothesize that this CM is involved in allowing nematodes to parasitize plants.     

The two chorismate mutases from both Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium smegmatis: biochemical analysis and limited regulation of promoter activity by aromatic amino acids

Chorismate mutase (CM) catalyzes the rearrangement of chorismate to prephenate in the biosynthetic pathway that forms phenylalanine and tyrosine in bacteria, fungi, plants, and apicomplexan parasites. Since this enzyme is absent from mammals, it represents a promising target for the development of new antimycobacterial drugs, which are needed to combat Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. Until recently, two putative open reading frames (ORFs), Rv0948c and Rv1885c, showing low sequence similarity to CMs have been described as "conserved hypothetical proteins" in the M. tuberculosis genome. However, we and others demonstrated that these ORFs are in fact monofunctional CMs of the AroQ structural class and that they are differentially localized in the mycobacterial cell. Since homologues to the M. tuberculosis enzymes are also present in Mycobacterium smegmatis, we cloned the coding sequences corresponding to ORFs MSMEG5513 and MSMEG2114 from the latter. The CM activities of both ORFs was determined, as well as their translational start sites. In addition, we analyzed the promoter activities of three M. tuberculosis loci related to phenylalanine and tyrosine biosynthesis under a variety of conditions using M. smegmatis as a surrogate host. Our results indicate that the aroQ (Rv0948c), *aroQ (Rv1885c), and fbpB (Rv1886c) genes from M. tuberculosis are constitutively expressed or subjected to minor regulation by aromatic amino acids levels, especially tryptophan.     

Prephenate aminotransferase directs plant phenylalanine biosynthesis via arogenate

The aromatic amino acids L-phenylalanine and L-tyrosine and their plant-derived natural products are essential in human and plant metabolism and physiology. Here we identified Petunia hybrida and Arabidopsis thaliana genes encoding prephenate aminotransferases (PPA-ATs), thus completing the identification of the genes involved in phenylalanine and tyrosine biosyntheses. Biochemical and genetic characterization of enzymes showed that PPA-AT directs carbon flux from prephenate toward arogenate, making the arogenate pathway predominant in plant phenylalanine biosynthesis.     

Purification and characterization of a functionally active Mycobacterium tuberculosis prephenate dehydrogenase

Tuberculosis (TB) remains to be a global health problem. New drugs are badly needed to drastically reduce treatment time and overcome some of the challenges with tuberculosis treatment, such as multi-drug resistant (MDR) strain infected patients or tuberculosis/HIV co-infected patients. The essentiality of mycobacterial aromatic amino acid biosynthesis pathways and their absence from human host indicate that the member enzymes of these pathways promising drug targets for therapeutic agents against pathogen mycobacteria. Prephenate dehydrogenase (PDH) is a key regulatory enzyme in tyrosine biosynthesis, catalyzing the NAD(+)-dependent conversion of prephenate to p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate, making it a potential drug target for antibiotics discovery. The recombinant PDH with an N-terminal His-tag (His-rMtPDH) was first purified in Escherichia coli, and using enterokinase rMtPDH was obtained by cleaving the N-terminal fusion partner. The effect of pH, temperature and the cation-Na(+) on purified enzyme activity was characterized. The N-terminal fusion partner was found to have little effect on the biochemical properties of PDH. We also provide in vitro evidence that Mycobacterium tuberculosis PDH does not possess any chorismate mutase (CM) activity, which suggests that, unlike many other enteric bacteria (where PDH exists as a fusion protein with CM), M. tuberculosis PDH is a monofunctional protein.     

Control of aromatic acid biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis: sequenial feedback inhibition

Nester, E. W. (University of Washington, Seattle), and R. A. Jensen. Control of aromatic acid biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis: sequential feedback inhibition. J. Bacteriol. 91:1594-1598. 1966.-The three major end products of aromatic acid synthesis, tyrosine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan, were tested for their ability to inhibit the first enzymes of the three terminal branches of the pathway as well as the enzyme common to both tyrosine and phenylalanine synthesis. Tyrosine inhibits the activity of prephenate dehydrogenase and also prephenate dehydratase to a limited extent. Phenylalanine inhibits the activity of prephenate dehydratase and, at much higher concentrations, prephenate dehydrogenase. Tryptophan inhibits the activity of anthranilate synthetase and, to some extent, prephenate dehydrogenase and prephenate dehydratase. Chorismate mutase is not inhibited by either 1 mm tyrosine or 1 mm phenylalanine when these are present singly or together in the reaction mixture. The significance of the feedback control of the terminal branches to the feedback control of that part of the pathway common to the synthesis of all three amino acids is discussed.     

The aromatic amino acid pathway branches at L-arogenate in Euglena gracilis.

The recently characterized amino acid L-arogenate (Zamir et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 102:4499-4504, 1980) may be a precursor of either L-phenylalanine or L-tyrosine in nature. Euglena gracilis is the first example of an organism that uses L-arogenate as the sole precursor of both L-tyrosine and L-phenylalanine, thereby creating a pathway in which L-arogenate rather than prephenate becomes the metabolic branch point. E. gracilis ATCC 12796 was cultured in the light under myxotrophic conditions and harvested in late exponential phase before extract preparation for enzymological assays. Arogenate dehydrogenase was dependent upon nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate for activity. L-Tyrosine inhibited activity effectively with kinetics that were competitive with respect to L-arogenate and noncompetitive with respect to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate. The possible inhibition of arogenate dehydratase by L-phenylalanine has not yet been determined. Beyond the latter uncertainty, the overall regulation of aromatic biosynthesis was studied through the characterization of 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate synthase and chorismate mutase. 3-Deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate synthase was subject to noncompetitive inhibition by L-tyrosine with respect to either of the two substrates. Chorismate mutase was feedback inhibited with equal effectiveness by either L-tyrosine or L-phenylalanine. L-Tryptophan activated activity of chorismate mutase, a pH-dependent effect in which increased activation was dramatic above pH 7.8 L-Arogenate did not affect activity of 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate synthase or of chorismate mutase. Four species of prephenate aminotransferase activity were separated after ion-exchange chromatography. One aminotransferase exhibited a narrow range of substrate specificity, recognizing only the combination of L-glutamate with prephenate, phenylpyruvate, or 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate. Possible natural relationships between Euglena spp. and fungi previously considered in the literature are discussed in terms of data currently available to define enzymological variation in the shikimate pathway.     

Phylogenetic distribution of components of the overflow pathway tol-phenylalanine within the enteric lineage of bacteria

The enteric lineage of prokaryotes (traditional enteric bacteria,Aeromonas, andAlteromonas) encompasses closely related genera that share many common character states of aromatic amino acid biosynthesis. For example, they uniformly employ the tightly regulated bifunctional P-protein (chorismate mutase: prephenate dehydratase) to forml-phenylalanine via phenylpyruvate. A second, unregulated pathway to phenylalanine, originally termed the overflow pathway inPseudomonas aeruginosa, consists of a monofunctional chorismate mutase (CM-F) and a cyclohexadienyl dehydratase. The evolution of the overflow pathway has been dynamic in the enteric lineage.Serratia marcescens, Erwinia herbicola, Erwinia amylovora, and several otherErwinia species possess an intact pathway.Salmonella, Klebsiella, andErwinia carotovora possess an incomplete overflow pathway, whileEscherichia, Proteus, Aeromonas, andAlteromonas lack it altogether.     

Remnants of an ancient pathway to L-phenylalanine and L-tyrosine in enteric bacteria: evolutionary implications and biotechnological impact

The pathway construction for biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids in Escherichia coli is atypical of the phylogenetic subdivision of gram-negative bacteria to which it belongs (R. A. Jensen, Mol. Biol. Evol. 2:92-108, 1985). Related organisms possess second pathways to phenylalanine and tyrosine which depend upon the expression of a monofunctional chorismate mutase (CM-F) and cyclohexadienyl dehydratase (CDT). Some enteric bacteria, unlike E. coli, possess either CM-F or CDT. These essentially cryptic remnants of an ancestral pathway can be a latent source of biochemical potential under certain conditions. As one example of advantageous biochemical potential, the presence of CM-F in Salmonella typhimurium increases the capacity for prephenate accumulation in a tyrA auxotroph. We report the finding that a significant fraction of the latter prephenate is transaminated to L-arogenate. The tyrA19 mutant is now the organism of choice for isolation of L-arogenate, uncomplicated by the presence of other cyclohexadienyl products coaccumulated by a Neurospora crassa mutant that had previously served as the prime biological source of L-arogenate. Prephenate aminotransferase activity was not conferred by a discrete enzyme, but rather was found to be synonymous with the combined activities of aspartate aminotransferase (aspC), aromatic aminotransferase (tyrB), and branched-chain aminotransferase (ilvE). This conclusion was confirmed by results obtained with combinations of aspC-, tyrB-, and ilvE-deficient mutations in E. coli. An example of disadvantageous biochemical potential is the presence of a cryptic CDT in Klebsiella pneumoniae, where a mutant carrying multiple enzyme blocks is the standard organism used for accumulation and isolation of chorismate.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)