| Type: | Family | Name: | Chorismate mutase, nematode type |
| Description: | Chorismate mutase (CM) () catalyses the reaction at the branch point of the biosynthetic pathways leading to the three aromatic amino acids, phenylalanine, tryptophan, and tyrosine (chorismic acid is the last common intermediate, and CM leads to the L-phenylalanine/L-tyrosine branch). It is part of the shikimate pathway, which is present only in bacteria, archaea, fungi, and plants. However, CM has also been discovered in a specialised group of plant-pathogenic nematodes and this family represents these nematode CMs. Since they are most closely related to periplasmic CM --a subclass of prokaryotic CM--they may have been acquired in nematodes as a result of horizontal gene transfer from bacteria.Parasitism genes from phytoparasitic nematodes are thought to be essential for nematode invasion of the host plant, to help the nematode establish feeding sites, and to aid nematodes in the suppression of host plant defences. One protein that may play several roles in nematode parasitism is chorismate mutase []. This enzyme is produced in the esophageal glands and secreted into the plant. It appears to function within the plant cell to manipulate the plant s shikimate pathway, which controls plant cell growth, development, structure, and pathogen defence [].The three types of CM are AroQ class, prokaryotic type; AroQ class, eukaryotic type (); and AroH class (). They fall into two structural folds (AroQ class and AroH class) which are completely unrelated []. The two types of the AroQ structural class (the Escherichia coliCM dimer and the yeast CM monomer) can be structurally superimposed, and the topology of the four-helix bundle forming the active site is conserved []. | Short Name: | CM_nem_type |
