In this review, Markus Wirtz and colleagues discuss the subcellular compartmentalization of methionine (Met) fluxes with respect to regulation and communication with the sulfur assimilation pathway, the network of the aspartate-derived amino acids and the demand for production of SAM (S-adenosylmethionine), focusing in particular on the function of recently identified genes of the Met salvage and Yang cycles and the importance of the Met salvage cycle in the metabolism of MTA (5'-methylthioadenosine).

In this paper, Cristian Cosentino and colleagues have sought to address the question of whether the V-ATPase (vacuolar H+-ATPase) subunit composition of the halophyte Mesembryanthemum crystallinum changes upon the switch from C3 to CAM metabolism.

In this paper, Joseph Jez and colleagues provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms and evolution of glutathione biosynthesis, a key process required for enhancing bioenergy production in photosynthetic organisms, working on progenitor GCLs (glutamate-cysteine ligases) and GSs (glutathione synthases) from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.

In this paper, Douglas Grubb and colleagues have performed an extensive kinetic analysis of glucosyltransferase UGT74B1 (UDP-glycosyltransferase 74B1), which catalyses the penultimate step in the core biosynthetic pathway of glucosinolates (a group of natural products with important functions in plant defence against pests and pathogens), and propose a general mechanism by which these small-molecule glycosyltransferases are able to escape product inhibition.