%0 Journal Article %T Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Accumulates Most S-Methylcysteine as Its ¦Ã-Glutamyl Dipeptide %A Aga Pajak %A Elham Saboori-Robat %A Fr¨¦d¨¦ric Marsolais %A Jaya Joshi %A Justin Renaud %A Mahmood Solouki %A Motahhareh Mohsenpour %J Archive of "Plants". %D 2019 %R 10.3390/plants8050126 %X The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) constitutes an excellent source of vegetable dietary protein. However, there are sub-optimal levels of the essential amino acids, methionine and cysteine. On the other hand, P. vulgaris accumulates large amounts of the ¦Ã-glutamyl dipeptide of S-methylcysteine, and lower levels of free S-methylcysteine and S-methylhomoglutathione. Past results suggest two distinct metabolite pools. Free S-methylcysteine levels are high at the beginning of seed development and decline at mid-maturation, while there is a biphasic accumulation of ¦Ã-glutamyl-S-methylcysteine, at early cotyledon and maturation stages. A possible model involves the formation of S-methylcysteine by cysteine synthase from O-acetylserine and methanethiol, whereas the majority of ¦Ã-glutamyl-S-methylcysteine may arise from S-methylhomoglutathione. Metabolite profiling during development and in genotypes differing in total S-methylcysteine accumulation showed that ¦Ã-glutamyl-S-methylcysteine accounts for most of the total S-methylcysteine in mature seed. Profiling of transcripts for candidate biosynthetic genes indicated that BSAS4;1 expression is correlated with both the developmental timing and levels of free S-methylcysteine accumulated, while homoglutathione synthetase (hGS) expression was correlated with the levels of ¦Ã-glutamyl-S-methylcysteine. Analysis of S-methylated phytochelatins by liquid chromatography and high resolution tandem mass spectrometry revealed only small amounts of homophytochelatin-2 with a single S-methylcysteine. The mitochondrial localization of phytochelatin synthase 2¡ªpredominant in seed, determined by confocal microscopy of a fusion with the yellow fluorescent protein¡ªand its spatial separation from S-methylhomoglutathione may explain the lack of significant accumulation of S-methylated phytochelatins %K Phaseolus vulgaris %K common bean %K S-methylcysteine %K homoglutathione %K phytochelatin synthase %K cysteine %K methionine %U https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6572574/