Gibberellin biosynthesis and metabolism: A convergent route for plants, fungi and bacteria.

Gibberellins (GAs) are natural complex biomolecules initially identified as secondary metabolites in the fungus Gibberella fujikuroi with strong implications in plant physiology. GAs have been identified in different fungal and bacterial species, in some cases related to virulence, but the full understanding of the role of these metabolites in the different organisms would need additional investigation. In this review, we summarize the current evidence regarding a common pathway for GA synthesis in fungi, bacteria and plant from the genes depicted as part of the GA production cluster to the enzymes responsible for the catalytic transformations and the biosynthetical routes involved.

β-Oxygen effect in the Barton-McCombie deoxygenation reaction: further experimental and theoretical findings.

The chemistry of (S)-methyl xanthates derived from xylo- and ribo-furanose derivatives in the presence of the stannyl radical is investigated. Xanthate derived from β-xylo-furanose affords exclusively a deoxygenated product; whereas, under the same reaction conditions, the α-ribo-furanose xanthate derivative produces quantitatively a hemithioacetal compound. We reasoned that in the case of the β-xylo-furanose derivative, a favorable β-oxygen effect in the Barton-McCombie deoxygenation reaction is operating where, according to theoretical calculations, unusual molecular orbital interactions (and not strain, as previously proposed) are present.