The biosynthesis of avenic acid A was studied by feeding L-methionine-1-13C or D, L-methionine-3, 3, 4, 4-d4 to iron-deficient oat roots (Avena sativa L. cv Amuri II). Both avenic acid A and 2'-deoxymugineic acid labeled with 13C or 2H were isolated from root-washings of the same plants. The 13C-NMR elucidated that three molecules of L-methionine were incorporated into avenic acid A in the same way a as 2'-deoxymugineic acid. The 2H-NMR spectra indicated that all deuteriums from the methionine were incorporated into 2'-deoxymugineic acid, but one of the deuteriums at C-4 was lost in avenic acid A. A possible biosynthetic pathway is L-methionine→→ 2'-deoxymugineic acid→avenic acid A.
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Feng et al. (1992) studied this question.