Polyprenyl pyrophosphate-p-hydroxybenzoate polyprenyltransferase activity in mitochondria of broad-bean seeds and yeast.

Cell-free homogenates prepared from broad-bean seeds and yeast cells are capable of synthesizing 4-carboxy-2-polyprenylphenols from p-hydroxybenzoate and either isopentenyl pyrophosphate or protein-bound polyprenyl pyrophosphates (produced by incubating a Micrococcus lysodeikticus extract with isopentenyl pyrophosphate). The mitochondria contained all the polyprenyl pyrophosphate-p-hydroxybenzoate polyprenyltransferase activity; however, unlike the homogenates they could not synthesize a side chain from isopentenyl pyrophosphate and had to be provided with protein-bound polyprenyl pyrophosphates.