A research team from Purdue University led by Natalia Dudareva has described
a complete second pathway used by plants to produce phenylalanine, a
compound important for all living organisms.

Scientists have long accepted that plants use one biological pathway to
produce phenylalanine, but this did not explain all observed production of
the compound. Dudareva's team recently discovered the final step in the
alternative pathway and have identified the remaining steps. The key
finding, as reported in the journal Nature Communications, is that the
entire process happens in the cytoplasm rather than cell organelles called
plastids.



"It splits completely at a different point than predicted, and the whole
pathway is localized in cytoplasm. This was unexpected," Dudareva said. She
added that the gene responsible for the committed step has been known for 20
years and was never, until now, considered to be involved in production of
phenylalanine.

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-important-plant-compound-pathway.html