Efficient Reconstruction of Metabolic Pathways by Bidirectional Chemical Search

One of the main challenges in systems biology is the establishment of the metabolome: a catalogue of the metabolites and biochemical reactions present in a specific organism. Current knowledge of biochemical pathways as stored in public databases such as KEGG, is based on carefully curated genomic evidence for the presence of specific metabolites and enzymes that activate particular biochemical reactions. In this paper, we present an efficient method to build a substantial portion of the artificial chemistry defined by the metabolites and biochemical reactions in a given metabolic pathway, which is based on bidirectional chemical search. Computational results on the pathways stored in KEGG reveal novel biochemical pathways

Inheritance of fruit color and pigment changes in a yellow tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) mutant

A naturally occurring yellow tomato fruit mutant cv. Santa Clara was reciprocally crossed with the red wild type, after which F1 plants were self pollinated or backcrossed with both parents. Plants from F1 generations produced all fruits with a homogeneous deep red color when ripe. F2 plants showed a 3:1 red:yellow segregation of fruit color, and 100% red when backcrossed with red wild type or 1:1 red:yellow segregation in backcrosses with the yellow mutant; hence, yellow fruit color was determined by a recessive allele. Based on reciprocal crosses, fruit color is unlikely to be determined by maternal genes. Accumulation of lycopene dropped by 99.3% and<FONT FACE="Symbol"> b</font>-carotene by 77% in ripe yellow fruits, compared to the red wild type. Leaf and flower chlorophyll and total carotenoid concentrations were not affected by the yellow mutation. However, the mutant fruit had a higher rate of chlorophyll degradation during fruit ripening, whilst fruit from the F1 generation showed lower rates of degradation, similar to that observed in red wild type fruits.<br>Neste trabalho avaliou-se a herança da cor do fruto de um mutante natural da cv. Santa Clara, por meio da análise das gerações F1 e segregantes, obtidas mediante cruzamento entre plantas da cv. Santa Clara normal e o mutante amarelo. A caracterização das plantas normais, mutantes e F1 foi feita com base na análise quantitativa dos pigmentos carotenóides e clorofila em flores, folhas e frutos verdes e maduros. Plantas F1 e provenientes do retrocruzamento com o progenitor normal apresentaram 100% de frutos vermelhos. A semelhança entre os F1 recíprocos mostra que há ausência de herança materna para as características avaliadas. Em gerações segregantes, as freqüências observadas foram compatíveis com herança monogênica pelo teste qui-quadrado, com dominância completa para o gene que confere cor vermelha. Os frutos amarelos apresentaram teores reduzidos de <FONT FACE="Symbol">b</font>-caroteno e licopeno, enquanto o híbrido apresentou teores intermediários desses carotenóides quando comparados com o genótipo normal. Os níveis de clorofila em frutos verde-maduros e maduros mutantes foram menores que nos frutos normais, evidenciando o papel dos carotenóides sobre a fotoproteção da clorofila. A concentração de clorofila e carotenóides, em folhas e flores, não foi afetada pela mutação