Thiamine in plants: Aspects of its metabolism and functions

Thiamine diphosphate (vitamin B₁) plays a fundamental role as an enzymatic cofactor in universal metabolic pathways including glycolysis, the pentose phosphate pathway, and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. In addition, thiamine diphosphate has recently been shown to have functions other than as a cofactor in response to abiotic and biotic stress in plants. Recently, several steps of the plant thiamine biosynthetic pathway have been characterized, and a mechanism of feedback regulation of thiamine biosynthesis via riboswitch has been unraveled. This review focuses on these most recent advances made in our understanding of thiamine metabolism and functions in plants. Phenotypes of plant mutants affected in thiamine biosynthesis are described, and genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics data that have increased further our knowledge of plant thiamine metabolic pathways and functions are summarized. Aspects of thiamine metabolism such as catabolism, salvage, and transport in plants are discussed.