Vitamin C Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Vitamin C, including details on benefits, dosage, supplements, information.

Biosynthesis of L-ascorbic acid in plants: new pathways for an old antioxidant.

Valpuesta V, Botella MA

Departamento de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain. valpuesta@uma.es

The biosynthetic pathway of L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in plants has been established for several years. However, recent reports describe alternative pathways, revealing a more complex picture of L-ascorbic acid biosynthesis than had been expected. GDP-L-gulose and myo-inositol are proposed as new intermediates in L-ascorbic acid biosynthesis, indicating that part of the animal pathway might also be operating in plants. Enzymatic studies on the GDP-mannose- 3',5'-epimerase and L-galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase suggest that they are important regulatory steps for L-ascorbic acid biosynthesis.

Published 26 November 2004 in Trends Plant Sci, 9(12): 573-7.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Vitamin C Research Today. All Rights Reserved.