The silkworm (Bombyx mori) gut microbiota is involved in metabolic detoxification by glucosylation of plant toxins

Herbivores have evolved the ability to detoxify feed components through different mechanisms. The oligophagous silkworm feeds on Cudrania tricuspidata leaves (CTLs) instead of mulberry leaves for the purpose of producing special, high-quality silk. However, CTL-fed silkworms are found to have smaller bodies, slower growth and lower silk production than those fed mulberry leaves. Here, we show that the high content of prenylated isoflavones (PIFs) that occurred in CTLs is converted into glycosylated derivatives (GPIFs) in silkworm faeces through the silkworm gut microbiota, and this biotransformation is the key process in PIFs detoxification because GPIFs are found to be much less toxic, as revealed both in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, adding Bacillus subtilis as a probiotic to remodel the gut microbiota could beneficially promote silkworm growth and development. Consequently, this study provides meaningful guidance for silk production by improving the adaptability of CTL-fed silkworms.

Engineering of flavonoid 3'-O-methyltransferase for improved biosynthesis of chrysoeriol in Escherichia coli

O-Methylation catalyzed by O-methyltransferases (OMTs) is an important modification of flavonoids for improving the transport efficiency across membranes and metabolic stability in mammalian cells. Chrysoeriol, also known as 3'-O-methylated luteolin, is a methylated flavonoid compound with health-promoting activities. The generation of chrysoeriol from luteolin can be catalyzed by a rice-derived 3'-OMT named ROMT-9, which has a high regiospecificity and activity toward flavonoids in vitro. Herein, we explored the potential of ROMT-9 for in vivo biosynthesis of chrysoeriol in Escherichia coli and adopted semi-rational enzyme engineering guided by homology modeling and molecular docking to improve the bio-production. Two positive variants including L34Q and W284A were obtained which promoted chrysoeriol formation to more than 85 mg/L from 200 mg/L of luteolin in 24 h compared with a titer of 55 mg/L for the strain expressing the native enzyme. Further biochemical analysis confirmed that such improvement in production stemmed from a higher enzyme expression level for the L34Q variant and higher efficiency in substrate binding and catalysis for the W284A variant. This study provides some insights into the engineering of other flavonoid OMTs and will facilitate high-level biosynthesis of methylated flavonoids in engineered microorganisms. KEY POINTS: • Biosynthesis of chrysoeriol from luteolin in E. coli using ROMT-9 • Engineering of ROMT-9 for better bio-production • ROMT-9 variants promote production via better expression or better catalysis.

Enzymatic synthesis of novel unnatural phenoxodiol glycosides with a glycosyl donor flexible glycosyltransferase MeUGT1

Isoflavonoids are of great interest due to their human health-promoting properties, which have resulted in studies on exploiting these phytochemicals as hotspots in diverse bio -industries. Biocatalytic glycosylation of isoflavonoid aglycones to glycosides has attracted marked interests because it enable the biosynthesis of isoflavonoid glycosides with high selectivity under mild conditions, and also provide an environmentally friendly option for the chemical synthesis. Thus, these inspired us to exploit new flexible and effective glycosyltransferases from microbes for making glycosides attractive compounds that are in high demand in several industries. Most recently, we have reported the functional characterization of a bacterial-origin recombinant glycosyltransferase (MeUGT1). Herein, more detailed kinetic characteristics of this biocatalyst, using a number of glycosyl donor substrates, were examined for further investigation of its biocatalytic applicability, enabling it feasible to biosynthesize new glycosides; phenoxodiol-4'-O-α-glucuronide, phenoxodiol-4'-O-α-(2''-N-acetyl)glucosaminide, phenoxodiol-4'-O-α-galactoside, phenoxodiol-4'-O-α-(2''-N-acetyl)galactosaminide and phenoxodiol-4'-O-α-(2''-deoxy)glucoside. The thorough kinetic analyses revealed that while the recombinant enzyme can utilize, albeit with different substrate preference and catalytic efficiency, a total five different nucleotide sugars as glycosyl donors, exhibiting its promiscuity towards glycosyl donors. This is the first report that a recombinant glycosyltransferase MeUGT1 that can regio-specifically glycosylate C4'-hydroxyl function of semi-synthetic phenoxodiol isoflavene to biosynthesize a series of unnatural phenoxodiol-4'-O-α-glycosides.

Garambullo (Myrtillocactus geometrizans): effect of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion on the bioaccessibility and antioxidant capacity of phytochemicals

Garambullo (Myrtillocactus geometrizans), endemic fruit from Mexico, contains several bioactive compounds (phenolic compounds, betalains, antioxidant fiber), highlighting it as a good functional food. In this research, the impact of the in vitro gastrointestinal digestion on phytochemical bioaccessibility from garambullo and its antioxidant capacity are studied. The fruit contained previously unidentified phytochemicals in the polar and non-polar extracts (acetone and hexane). The bioaccessibility decreased in the mouth and stomach for flavanones (up to 11.9 and 8.9%, respectively), isoflavones (up to 20.0 and 9.2%, respectively), flavonols (up to 15.2 and 15.7%, respectively), hydroxycinnamic acids (up to 21.7 and 13.1%, respectively), and betalains (up to 10.5 and 4.2%, respectively); hydroxybenzoic acids were increased (up to 752.8 and 552.6%, respectively), while tocopherols increased in the mouth (127.7%) and decreased in the stomach (up to 90.3%). In the intestinal phase, the digestible fraction showed low phytochemicals bioaccessibility, and some compounds were recovered in the non-digestible fraction. The antioxidant capacity decreased in different compartments of the gastrointestinal tract, being higher in the mouth (872.9, 883.6, 385.2, and 631.2 μmol TE per g dw by ABTS, DPPH, ORAC, and FRAP, respectively) and stomach (836.2, 942.1, 289.0, and 494.9 μmol TE per g dw ABTS, DPPH, ORAC, and FRAP, respectively). The results indicate that digestion positively or negatively affects compounds' bioaccessibility depending on their structural family, and the antioxidant capacity decreases but remains higher than other functional foods.

Biosynthesis of 3'-O-methylisoorientin from luteolin by selecting O-methylation/C-glycosylation motif

Glycosylation and methylation of flavonoids are the main types of structural modifications and can endow flavonoids with greater stability, bioactivity, and bioavailability. In this study, five types of O-methyltransferases were screened for producing O-methylated luteolin, and the biosynthesis strategy of 3'-O-methylisoorientin from luteolin was determined. To improve the production of 3'-O-methylluteolin, the S-adenosyl-l-methionine synthesis pathway was reconstructed in the recombinant strain by introducing S-adenosyl-l-methionine synthetase genes. After optimizing the conversion conditions, maximal 3'-O-methylluteolin production reached 641 ± 25 mg/L with a corresponding molar conversion of 76.5 %, which was the highest titer of methylated flavonoids reported to date in Escherichia coli. 3'-O-Methylluteolin (127 mg) was prepared from 250 mL of the broth by silica gel column chromatography and preparative HPLC with a yield of 79.4 %. Subsequently, we used the biocatalytic cascade of Gentiana triflora C-glycosyltransferase (Gt6CGT) and Glycine max sucrose synthase (GmSUS) to biosynthesize 3'-O-methylisoorientin from 3'-O-methylluteolin in vitro. By optimizing the coupled reaction conditions and using the fed-batch operation, maximal 3'-O-methylisoorientin production reached 226 ± 8 mg/L with a corresponding molar conversion of 98 %. Therefore, this study provides an efficient method for the production of novel 3'-O-methylisoorientin and the biosynthesis strategy for methylated C-glycosylation flavonoids by selective O-methylation/C-glycosylation motif on flavonoids.

Microbial Biosynthesis of Antibacterial Chrysoeriol in Recombinant Escherichia coli and Bioactivity Assessment

Various flavonoid derivatives including methoxylated flavones display remarkable biological activities. Chrysoeriol is a methoxylated flavone of great scientific interest because of its promising anti-microbial activities against various Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Sustainable production of such compounds is therefore of pronounced interest to biotechnologists in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. Here, we used a sugar O-methyltransferase enzyme from a spinosyn biosynthesis gene cluster of Saccharopolyspora spinosa to regioselectively produce chrysoeriol (15% conversion of luteolin; 30 µM) in a microbial host. The biosynthesized chrysoeriol was structurally characterized using high-resolution mass spectrometry and various nuclear magnetic resonance analyses. Moreover, the molecule was investigated against 17 superbugs, including thirteen Gram-positive and four Gram-negative pathogens, for anti-microbial effects. Chrysoeriol exhibited antimicrobial activity against nine pathogens in a disc diffusion assay at the concentration of 40 µg per disc. It has minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 1.25 µg/mL against a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus 3640 (MRSA) for which the parent luteolin has an MIC value of sixteen-fold higher concentration (i.e., 20 µg/mL). Similarly, chrysoeriol showed better anti-microbial activity (~1.7-fold lower MIC value) than luteolin against Proteus hauseri, a Gram-negative pathogen. In contrast, a luteolin 4′-O-methylated derivative, diosmetin, did not exhibit any anti-microbial activities against any tested pathogen.

Metabolic engineering of glycosylated polyketide biosynthesis

Microbial cell factories are extensively used for the biosynthesis of value-added chemicals, biopharmaceuticals, and biofuels. Microbial biosynthesis is also realistic for the production of heterologous molecules including complex natural products of plant and microbial origin. Glycosylation is a well-known post-modification method to engineer sugar-functionalized natural products. It is of particular interest to chemical biologists to increase chemical diversity of molecules. Employing the state-of-the-art systems and synthetic biology tools, a range of small to complex glycosylated natural products have been produced from microbes using a simple and sustainable fermentation approach. In this context, this review covers recent notable metabolic engineering approaches used for the biosynthesis of glycosylated plant and microbial polyketides in different microorganisms. This review article is broadly divided into two major parts. The first part is focused on the biosynthesis of glycosylated plant polyketides in prokaryotes and yeast cells, while the second part is focused on the generation of glycosylated microbial polyketides in actinomycetes.

Biosynthesis of flavone C-glucosides in engineered Escherichia coli

Two plant-originated C-glucosyltransferases (CGTs) UGT708D1 from Glycine max and GtUF6CGT1 from Gentiana triflora were accessed for glucosylation of selected flavones chrysin and luteolin. Uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glucose pool was enhanced in Escherichia coli cell cytosol by introducing heterologous UDP-glucose biosynthetic genes, i.e., glucokinase (glk), phosphoglucomutase (pgm2), and glucose 1-phosphate uridylyltransferase (galU), along with glucose facilitator diffusion protein from (glf) from different organisms, in a multi-monocistronic vector with individual T7 promoter, ribosome binding site, and terminator for each gene. The C-glucosylated products were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array, high-resolution quadruple time-of-flight electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and one-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance analyses. Fed-batch shake flask culture showed 8% (7 mg/L; 16 μM) and 11% (9 mg/L; 22 μM) conversion of chrysin to chrysin 6-C-β-D-glucoside with UGT708D1 and GtUF6CGT1, respectively. Moreover, the bioengineered E. coli strains with exogenous UDP-glucose biosynthetic genes and glucose facilitator diffusion protein enhanced the production of chrysin 6-C-β-D-glucoside by approximately 1.4-fold, thus producing 10 mg/L (12%, 24 μM) and 14 mg/L (17%, 34 μM) by UGT708D1 and GtUF6CGT1, respectively, without supplementation of additional UDP-glucose in the medium. The biotransformation was further elevated when the bioengineered strain was scaled up in lab-scale fermentor at 3 L volume. HPLC analysis of fermentation broth extract revealed 50% (42 mg/L, 100 μM) conversion of chrysin to chrysin 6-C-β-D-glucoside at 48 h upon supplementation of 200 μM of chrysin. The maximum conversion of luteolin was 38% (34 mg/L, 76 μM) in 50-mL shake flask fermentation at 48 h. C-glucosylated derivative of chrysin was found to be more soluble and more stable to high temperature, different pH range, and β-glucosidase enzyme, than O-glucosylated derivative of chrysin.