Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Ober D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC24724 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 19991201 26
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are preformed plant defense compounds with sporadic phylogenetic distribution. They are thought to have evolved in response to the selective pressure of herbivory. The first pathway-specific intermediate of these alkaloids is the rare polyamine homospermidine, which is synthesized by homospermidine synthase (HSS). The HSS gene from Senecio vernalis was cloned and shown to be derived from the deoxyhypusine synthase (DHS) gene, which is highly conserved among all eukaryotes ...[more]