High impact information on ATHAL3A

• Coenzyme A biosynthesis in plants is not fully understood, and to date only the AtHAL3a (AtCoaC) gene of Arabidopsis thaliana has been cloned and identified as 4'-phosphopantothenoylcysteine (PPC) decarboxylase (Kupke, T., Hernández-Acosta, P., Steinbacher, S., and Culiáñez-Macià, F. A. (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276, 19190-19196) [1].
• In contrast, seedling establishment of Aabb plants was not Suc dependent, proving a predominant role of HAL3A over HAL3B at this stage [2].
• To this end, we have identified and characterized Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) T-DNA knockout mutants of two CoA biosynthetic genes, HAL3A and HAL3B [2].
• A second gene, HAL3B, whose gene product is 86% identical to that of HAL3A, is present in the Arabidopsis genome [2].
• The HAL3A gene encodes a 4'-phosphopantothenoyl-cysteine decarboxilase that generates 4'-phosphopantetheine [2].

Biological context of ATHAL3A

• Unexpectedly, seedlings that were null for HAL3A and heterozygous for HAL3B (aaBb genotype) displayed a sucrose (Suc)-dependent phenotype for seedling establishment, which is in common with mutants defective in beta-oxidation [2].

Associations of ATHAL3A with chemical compounds

• Taken together, these results provide in vivo evidence for the function of HAL3A and HAL3B, and they point out the critical role of CoA biosynthesis during early postgerminative growth [2].

References