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BIOCHEMICAL PROCESSES AND MACROMOLECULAR STRUCTURES

Maize Y9 Encodes a Product Essential for 15-cis--Carotene Isomerization^1,[OA]

Department of Biological Sciences, Lehman College, City University of New York, Bronx, New York 10468 (F.L., C.M., E.T.W.); and Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York, New York, New York 10016–4309 (F.L., E.T.W.)

Carotenoids are a diverse group of pigments found in plants, fungi, and bacteria. They serve essential functions in plants and provide health benefits for humans and animals. In plants, it was thought that conversion of the C40 carotenoid backbone, 15-cis-phytoene, to all-trans-lycopene, the geometrical isomer required by downstream enzymes, required two desaturases (phytoene desaturase and -carotene desaturase [ZDS]) plus a carotene isomerase (CRTISO), in addition to light-mediated photoisomerization of the 15-cis-double bond; bacteria employ only a single enzyme, CRTI. Characterization of the maize (Zea mays) pale yellow9 (y9) locus has brought to light a new isomerase required in plant carotenoid biosynthesis. We report that maize Y9 encodes a factor required for isomerase activity upstream of CRTISO, which we term Z-ISO, an activity that catalyzes the cis- to trans-conversion of the 15-cis-bond in 9,15,9'-tri-cis--carotene, the product of phytoene desaturase, to form 9,9'-di-cis--carotene, the substrate of ZDS. We show that recessive y9 alleles condition accumulation of 9,15,9'-tri-cis--carotene in dark tissues, such as roots and etiolated leaves, in contrast to accumulation of 9,9'-di-cis--carotene in a ZDS mutant, viviparous9. We also identify a locus in Euglena gracilis, which is similarly required for Z-ISO activity. These data, taken together with the geometrical isomer substrate requirement of ZDS in evolutionarily distant plants, suggest that Z-ISO activity is not unique to maize, but will be found in all higher plants. Further analysis of this new gene-controlled step is critical to understanding regulation of this essential biosynthetic pathway.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Eleanore T. Wurtzel (wurtzel{at}lehman.cuny.edu).

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www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.107.098996

^* Corresponding author; e-mail wurtzel{at}lehman.cuny.edu; fax 718–960–8236.

Received March 6, 2007; accepted April 4, 2007; published April 13, 2007.

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