Cloning of Glucuronokinase from A. thaliana
Berlin
lono-1,4-lactone oxidase (38). As a consequence these animals
need to take up ascorbic acid with the plant food. Why did the
GlcAK gene disappear in animals above amphibians? A conse-
quence of a lost GlcAK enzyme is a redirection of GlcA into the
ascorbic acid pool, which may ensure a steady production of
this critical cellular metabolite. In this scenario UDP-GlcA for
proteoglycans is produced by UDP-glucose dehydrogenase,
thereby uncoupling the two pathways. Whether GlcA is also a
precursor for ascorbic acid in plants is discussed controversially
(38) but compelling evidence is still missing (39). Up to now no
report has measured the availability of GlcA plants but feeding
of labeled methyl-GlcA to Arabidopsis cell cultures strongly
increased the ascorbic acid synthesis (40). The metabolite GlcA
would be a prerequisite for the possible further conversion into
ascorbic acid. Isolation of plant mutants in GlcAK will help to
elucidate this controversial plant pathway. We will explore this
possibility in the future by generating GlcAK knock-out
mutants.
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2910 JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY
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