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Gnanasekaran T, Karcher D, Nielsen AZ, Martens HJ, Ruf S, Kroop X, Olsen CE, Motawie MS, Pribil M, Møller BL, Bock R, Jensen PE. Transfer of the cytochrome P450-dependent dhurrin pathway from Sorghum bicolor into Nicotiana tabacum chloroplasts for light-driven synthesis. J Exp Bot 2016; 67:2495-506. [PMID: 26969746 PMCID: PMC4809297 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erw067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Plant chloroplasts are light-driven cell factories that have great potential to act as a chassis for metabolic engineering applications. Using plant chloroplasts, we demonstrate how photosynthetic reducing power can drive a metabolic pathway to synthesise a bio-active natural product. For this purpose, we stably engineered the dhurrin pathway from Sorghum bicolor into the chloroplasts of Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco). Dhurrin is a cyanogenic glucoside and its synthesis from the amino acid tyrosine is catalysed by two membrane-bound cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP79A1 and CYP71E1) and a soluble glucosyltransferase (UGT85B1), and is dependent on electron transfer from a P450 oxidoreductase. The entire pathway was introduced into the chloroplast by integrating CYP79A1, CYP71E1, and UGT85B1 into a neutral site of the N. tabacum chloroplast genome. The two P450s and the UGT85B1 were functional when expressed in the chloroplasts and converted endogenous tyrosine into dhurrin using electrons derived directly from the photosynthetic electron transport chain, without the need for the presence of an NADPH-dependent P450 oxidoreductase. The dhurrin produced in the engineered plants amounted to 0.1-0.2% of leaf dry weight compared to 6% in sorghum. The results obtained pave the way for plant P450s involved in the synthesis of economically important compounds to be engineered into the thylakoid membrane of chloroplasts, and demonstrate that their full catalytic cycle can be driven directly by photosynthesis-derived electrons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thiyagarajan Gnanasekaran
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Daniel Karcher
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Agnieszka Zygadlo Nielsen
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Helle Juel Martens
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Stephanie Ruf
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Xenia Kroop
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Carl Erik Olsen
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mohammed Saddik Motawie
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mathias Pribil
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Birger Lindberg Møller
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ralph Bock
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Poul Erik Jensen
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
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