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Chen X, Hudson GA, Mineo C, Amer B, Baidoo EEK, Crowe SA, Liu Y, Keasling JD, Scheller HV. Deciphering triterpenoid saponin biosynthesis by leveraging transcriptome response to methyl jasmonate elicitation in Saponaria vaccaria. Nat Commun 2023; 14:7101. [PMID: 37925486 PMCID: PMC10625584 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42877-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 11/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) is a known elicitor of plant specialized metabolism, including triterpenoid saponins. Saponaria vaccaria is an annual herb used in traditional Chinese medicine, containing large quantities of oleanane-type triterpenoid saponins with anticancer properties and structural similarities to the vaccine adjuvant QS-21. Leveraging the MeJA-elicited saponin biosynthesis, we identify multiple enzymes catalyzing the oxidation and glycosylation of triterpenoids in S. vaccaria. This exploration is aided by Pacbio full-length transcriptome sequencing and gene expression analysis. A cellulose synthase-like enzyme can not only glucuronidate triterpenoid aglycones but also alter the product profile of a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase via preference for the aldehyde intermediate. Furthermore, the discovery of a UDP-glucose 4,6-dehydratase and a UDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-glucose reductase reveals the biosynthetic pathway for the rare nucleotide sugar UDP-D-fucose, a likely sugar donor for fucosylation of plant natural products. Our work enables the production and optimization of high-value saponins in microorganisms and plants through synthetic biology approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyue Chen
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, 5885 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA, 94608, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Graham A Hudson
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, 5885 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA, 94608, USA
- California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Charlotte Mineo
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, 5885 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA, 94608, USA
| | - Bashar Amer
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, 5885 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA, 94608, USA
- Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Edward E K Baidoo
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, 5885 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA, 94608, USA
- Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Samantha A Crowe
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, 5885 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA, 94608, USA
- California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Yuzhong Liu
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, 5885 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA, 94608, USA
- California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Jay D Keasling
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, 5885 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA, 94608, USA
- California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
- Center for Synthetic Biochemistry, Shenzhen Institutes for Advanced Technologies, Shenzhen, China
| | - Henrik V Scheller
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, 5885 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA, 94608, USA.
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
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Decker D, Kleczkowski LA. Substrate Specificity and Inhibitor Sensitivity of Plant UDP-Sugar Producing Pyrophosphorylases. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2017; 8:1610. [PMID: 28970843 PMCID: PMC5609113 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2017.01610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2017] [Accepted: 09/04/2017] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
UDP-sugars are essential precursors for glycosylation reactions producing cell wall polysaccharides, sucrose, glycoproteins, glycolipids, etc. Primary mechanisms of UDP sugar formation involve the action of at least three distinct pyrophosphorylases using UTP and sugar-1-P as substrates. Here, substrate specificities of barley and Arabidopsis (two isozymes) UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylases (UGPase), Arabidopsis UDP-sugar pyrophosphorylase (USPase) and Arabidopsis UDP-N-acetyl glucosamine pyrophosphorylase2 (UAGPase2) were investigated using a range of sugar-1-phosphates and nucleoside-triphosphates as substrates. Whereas all the enzymes preferentially used UTP as nucleotide donor, they differed in their specificity for sugar-1-P. UGPases had high activity with D-Glc-1-P, but could also react with Fru-1-P and Fru-2-P (Km values over 10 mM). Contrary to an earlier report, their activity with Gal-1-P was extremely low. USPase reacted with a range of sugar-1-phosphates, including D-Glc-1-P, D-Gal-1-P, D-GalA-1-P (Km of 1.3 mM), β-L-Ara-1-P and α-D-Fuc-1-P (Km of 3.4 mM), but not β-L-Fuc-1-P. In contrast, UAGPase2 reacted only with D-GlcNAc-1-P, D-GalNAc-1-P (Km of 1 mM) and, to some extent, D-Glc-1-P (Km of 3.2 mM). Generally, different conformations/substituents at C2, C4, and C5 of the pyranose ring of a sugar were crucial determinants of substrate specificity of a given pyrophosphorylase. Homology models of UDP-sugar binding to UGPase, USPase and UAGPase2 revealed more common amino acids for UDP binding than for sugar binding, reflecting differences in substrate specificity of these proteins. UAGPase2 was inhibited by a salicylate derivative that was earlier shown to affect UGPase and USPase activities, consistent with a common structural architecture of the three pyrophosphorylases. The results are discussed with respect to the role of the pyrophosphorylases in sugar activation for glycosylated end-products.
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