4-Coumarate:Coenzyme A ligase from loblolly pine xylem isolation, characterization, and complementary DNA cloning

4-Coumarate:CoA ligase (4CL, EC 6.2.1.12) was purified from differentiating xylem of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.). The pine enzyme had an apparent molecular mass of 64 kD and was similar in size and kinetic properties to 4CL isolated from Norway spruce. The pine enzyme used 4-coumaric acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, and cinnamic acid as substrates but had no detectable activity using sinapic acid. 4CL was inhibited by naringenin and coniferin, products of phenylpropanoid metabolism. Although the lignin composition in compression wood is higher in p-hydroxyphenyl units than lignin from normal wood, there was no evidence for a different form of 4CL enzyme in differentiating xylem that was forming compression wood. cDNA clones for 4CL were obtained from a xylem expression library. The cDNA sequences matched pine xylem 4CL protein sequences and showed 60 to 66% DNA sequence identity with 4CL sequences from herbaceous angiosperms. There were two classes of cDNA obtained from pine xylem, and the genetic analysis showed that they were products of a single gene.