No abstract

Several eubacteria including Esherichia coli use an alternative nonmevalonate pathway for the biosynthesis of isopentenyl diphosphate instead of the ubiquitous mevalonate pathway. In the alternative pathway, 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol or its 4-phosphate, which is proposed to be formed from 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate via intramolecular rearrangement followed by reduction process, is one of the biosynthetic precursors of isopentenyl diphosphate.

No abstract

In microorganisms, menaquinone is an obligatory component of the electron-transfer pathway. It is derived from chorismate by seven enzymes in Escherichia coli. However, a bioinformatic analysis of whole genome sequences has suggested that some microorganisms, including pathogenic species such as Helicobacter pylori and Campylobacter jejuni, do not have orthologs of the men genes, even though they synthesize menaquinone. We deduced the outline of this alternative pathway in a nonpathogenic strain of Streptomyces by bioinformatic screening, gene knockouts, shotgun cloning with isolated mutants, and in vitro studies with recombinant enzymes. As humans and commensal intestinal bacteria, including lactobacilli, lack this pathway, it represents an attractive target for the development of chemotherapeutics.