The phytohormone precursor OPDA is isomerized in the insect gut by a single, specific glutathione transferase.

ABSTRACT: Oxylipins play important roles in stress signaling in plants. The compound 12-oxophytodienoic acid (cis-OPDA) is an early biosynthetic precursor of jasmonic acid (JA), the key phytohormone orchestrating the plant anti-herbivore defense. When consumed by feeding Lepidopteran larvae, plant-derived cis-OPDA suffers rapid isomerization to iso-OPDA in the midgut and is excreted in the frass. Unlike OPDA epimerization (yielding trans-OPDA), the formation of iso-OPDA is enzyme-dependent, and is catalyzed by an inducible glutathione transferase (GSTs) from the larval gut. Purified GST fractions from the gut of Egyptian cotton leafworm (Spodoptera littoralis) and cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) both exhibited strong OPDA isomerization activity, most likely via transient formation of a glutat

SUBMITTER: Dabrowska P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2752597 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature