Investigating substrate specificity in arogenate versus prephenate dehydratases (opens in new tab)

Phenylalanine is an essential aromatic amino acid that can only be synthesized de novo by microorganisms and plants. In microorganisms, phenylalanine is synthesized through the prephenate pathway, requiring the activity of a prephenate dehydratase (PDT). In plants, phenylalanine is synthesized instead mostly through the arogenate pathway, requiring the enzyme arogenate dehydratase (ADT). In Arabidopsis, there is a family of six ADTs that catalyze this final step of phenylalanine biosynthesis....