Mugineic Acids: Natural Product Chemistry Contributing to Environmental Issues

Application of the phytosiderophore 2′-deoxymugineic acid (DMA) was found to enable rice growth in alkaline soils, which are unsuitable for agriculture and cover 1/3 of the world's land. For practical use as a fertilizer for such soils, a cheaper and stable analog, proline-2′-deoxymugineic acid (PDMA), was developed. Application of PDMA ameliorated the iron deficient chlorosis in rice plants on alkaline soils in a pilot field. To drive forward functional studies, molecular probes for mugineic acid (MA) were developed: these enabled the uptake of fluorescently labeled MA into cells to be observed. To supply enough of the probes for in vivo experiments, a streamlined synthetic pathway for the production of plentiful amounts of MA was established.