Expression in Escherichia coli of catalytically active phenylalanine ammonia-lyase from parsley.

In parsley (Petroselinum crispum), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) is encoded by 4 structurally similar genes. The nucleotide sequence of a near full-length cDNA and the deduced amino acid sequence of PAL-4 are presented and compared with the corresponding sequences of PAL-1, a previously described representative of the gene family. Transformation of Escherichia coli cells with PAL-1 or PAL-4 cDNA yielded catalytically active PAL, suggesting that the catalytic center of the enzyme is formed spontaneously rather than by a plant-specific mechanism.