The mevalonate and deoxy-D-xylulose (DXP) pathways of isoprenoid biosynthesis. Gene names and GenBank accession nos. for the prototype yeast proteins of the mevalonate pathway are shown. Green shading indicates genes orthologous to the yeast prototypes. Gene displacements are shown in yellow or, when the replacing enzymes have not been characterized, in red. Blue shading indicates the enzymes of the DXP pathway. No shading indicates that these functions are more likely to be absent in a given genus. Compounds are indicated by Roman numerals: I, acetyl-CoA; II, acetoacetyl-CoA; III, hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA; IV, mevalonate; V, phosphomevalonate; VI, diphosphomevalonate; VII, isopentenyl pyrophosphate; VIII, dimethylallyl pyrophosphate; IX, geranylpyrophosphate; X, pyruvate; XI, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate; XII, 2-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate; XIII, 2C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate; XIV, 4-diphosphocytidyl-2C-methyl-D-erythritol; XV, 4-diphosphocytidyl-2C-methyl-D-erythritol 2-phosphate; XVI, 2C-methyl-D-erythritol 2,4-cyclodiphosphate; XVII, isopentenyl monophosphate. Arabic numerals indicate enzymes. Mevalonate pathway: 1, acetoacyl-CoA synthetase; 2, hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase; 3, hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase; 4, mevalonate kinase; 5, phosphomevalonate kinase; 6, diphosphomevalonate decarboxylase; 7, isopentenyl pyrophosphate delta-isomerase; 8, geranyl pyrophosphate synthase family (the † sign indicates that orthologs and paralogs are not well distinguished in this family, which is compatible with the observation that substrate specificity of these enzymes is modulated easily by small number of point mutations). DXP pathway: 9, deoxy-D-xylulose phosphate synthase; 10, deoxy-D-xylulose phosphate reductoisomerase; 11, 2C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate cytidylyltransferase (YgbP); 12, isopentenyl monophosphate kinase; 13, 2C-methyl-D-erythritol 2,4-cyclodiphosphate synthase (YgbB).