Revisiting the methionine salvage pathway and its paralogues. Issue 1 (10th October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sekowska, Agnieszka; Ashida, Hiroki; Danchin, Antoine
• Is Part Of: Microbial biotechnology. Volume 12:Issue 1(2019:Jan.)
• Page Start: 77
• Page End: 97
• Publication Date: 2018-10-10
• Subjects: Microbial biotechnology -- Periodicals; Biotechnology; Microbiology; 660.62
• DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.13324
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-7915

Abstract

Summary: Methionine is essential for life. Its chemistry makes it fragile in the presence of oxygen. Aerobic living organisms have selected a salvage pathway (the MSP) that uses dioxygen to regenerate methionine, associated to a ratchet‐like step that prevents methionine back degradation. Here, we describe the variation on this theme, developed across the tree of life. Oxygen appeared long after life had developed on Earth. The canonical MSP evolved from ancestors that used both predecessors of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase (RuBisCO) and methanethiol in intermediate steps. We document how these likely promiscuous pathways were also used to metabolize the omnipresent by‐products of S ‐adenosylmethionine radical enzymes as well as the aromatic and isoprene skeleton of quinone electron acceptors. Abstract : Coupling methionine availability to the many roles of S ‐adenosylmethionine, the methionine salvage pathway (MSP), while omnipresent, displays a large number of variations around a theme that was probably created when the first cells emerged.