Sr. Putra et al., DISTRIBUTION OF MEVALONATE AND GLYCERALDEHYDE 3-PHOSPHATE PYRUVATE ROUTES FOR ISOPRENOID BIOSYNTHESIS IN SOME GRAM-NEGATIVE BACTERIA AND MYCOBACTERIA/, FEMS microbiology letters, 164(1), 1998, pp. 169-175
Labeling experiments using [l-C-13]acetate or [l-C-13]glucose were per
formed with opportunistic pathogenic bacteria, with innocuous bacteria
related to pathogenic species or with phyropathogenic species. The la
beling pattern was determined in the isoprenic moiety of ubiquinone or
menaquinone derivatives. These experiments showed that Acinetobacter,
Citrobacter, Erwinia, Pseudomonas, Burkholderia, Ralstonia and Mycoba
cterium synthesize their isoprenoids via the mevalonate-independent gl
yceraldehyde 3-phosphate/pyruvate route. Enzymes of this novel bacteri
al metabolic route, which is apparently absent in vertebrates and man,
therefore represent potential targets for a novel type of antibacteri
al drugs. (C) 1998 Fed-ration of European Microbiological Societies. P
ublished by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.