Jinichiro Koga

Molecular cloning of the gene for indolepyruvate decarboxylase from Enterobacter cloacae.

SummaryAlthough indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is a well-known plant hormone, the main IAA biosynthetic pathway from l-tryptophan (Trp) via indole-3-pyruvic acid (IPyA) has yet to be elucidated. Previous studies have suggested that IAA is produced by Enterobacter cloacae isolated from the rhizosphere of cucumbers and its biosynthetic pathway may possibly be the same as that in plants. To elucidate this pathway, the IAA biosynthetic gene was isolated from a genomic library of E. cloacae by assaying for the ability to convert Trp to IAA. DNA sequence analysis showed that this gene codes for only one enzyme and its predicted protein sequence has extensive homology with pyruvate decarboxylase in yeast and Zymomonas mobilis. Cell-free extracts prepared from Escherichia coli harboring this gene could convert IPyA to indole-3-acetaldehyde (IAAld). These results clearly show that this pathway is mediated only by indolepyruvate decarboxylase, which catalyzes the conversion of IPyA to IAAld.

Involvement of L-tryptophan aminotransferase in indole-3-acetic acid biosynthesis in Enterobacter cloacae.

L-Tryptophan aminotransferase (L-tryptophan:2-oxoglutarate aminotransferase; EC 2.6.1.27) from Enterobacter cloacae was purified 62-fold and characterized to determine its role in indole-3-acetic acid biosynthesis. The enzyme reversibly catalyzed the transamination of L-tryptophan with 2-oxoglutarate as the amino acceptor to yield indole-3-pyruvic acid and L-glutamate, and the Km values for L-tryptophan and indole-3-pyruvic acid were 3.3 mM and 24 microM, respectively. In the indole-3-acetaldehyde synthesis experiments in vitro, 94% of L-tryptophan was efficiently converted to indole-3-acetaldehyde by the purified L-tryptophan aminotransferase plus indolepyruvate decarboxylase. Furthermore, the amounts of L-tryptophan decreased with increases in the indolepyruvate decarboxylase activity, while the amounts of indole-3-acetaldehyde increased with increases in this activity. In genetic experiments, the amounts of L-tryptophan produced by Enterobacter and Pseudomonas strains harboring the gene for indolepyruvate decarboxylase were lower than those produced by these same strains without the gene, while the amounts of indole-3-acetic acid produced by Enterobacter and Pseudomonas strains harboring the gene for indolepyruvate decarboxylase were higher than those produced by these same strains without the gene. These results clearly show that L-tryptophan aminotransferase is involved in the indole-3-acetic acid biosynthesis and that indolepyruvate decarboxylase is the rate-limiting step in this pathway.