An alternative route to cyclic terpenes by reductive cyclization in iridoid biosynthesis
作者:Fernando Geu-Flores、Nathaniel H. Sherden、Vincent Courdavault、Vincent Burlat、Weslee S. Glenn、Cen Wu、Ezekiel Nims、Yuehua Cui、Sarah E. O’Connor
DOI:10.1038/nature11692
日期:2012.12
Iridoids are a large family of bicyclic natural products that possess anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antibacterial activities; here the essential cyclization step in their biosynthesis is identified, opening up the possibility of production of naturally occurring and synthetic variants of iridoids for use in pharmacy or agriculture. This paper reports the identification of iridoid synthase, a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of iridoids, a large family of bicyclic natural products that possess anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antibacterial activities. The enzyme produces a bicyclic ring system via a novel NAD(P)H-dependent cascade reaction. Knowledge of its structure and function should contribute towards efforts aimed at modifying and reconstituting iridoid and related pathways in crop plants or microbes for agricultural and pharmaceutical purposes. The iridoids comprise a large family of distinctive bicyclic monoterpenes that possess a wide range of pharmacological activities, including anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antibacterial activities1,2,3,4. Additionally, certain iridoids are used as sex pheromones in agriculturally important species of aphids, a fact that has underpinned innovative and integrated pest management strategies5. To harness the biotechnological potential of this natural product class, the enzymes involved in the biosynthetic pathway must be elucidated. Here we report the discovery of iridoid synthase, a plant-derived enzyme that generates the iridoid ring scaffold, as evidenced by biochemical assays, gene silencing, co-expression analysis and localization studies. In contrast to all known monoterpene cyclases, which use geranyl diphosphate as substrate and invoke a cationic intermediate, iridoid synthase uses the linear monoterpene 10-oxogeranial as substrate and probably couples an initial NAD(P)H-dependent reduction step with a subsequent cyclization step via a DielsâAlder cycloaddition or a Michael addition. Our results illustrate how a short-chain reductase was recruited as cyclase for the production of iridoids in medicinal plants. Furthermore, we highlight the prospects of using unrelated reductases to generate artificial cyclic scaffolds. Beyond the recognition of an alternative biochemical mechanism for the biosynthesis of cyclic terpenes, we anticipate that our work will enable the large-scale heterologous production of iridoids in plants and microorganisms for agricultural5,6,7,8 and pharmaceutical1,2,3,4,9 applications.
铱类化合物是一大类双环天然产物,具有抗癌、消炎、抗真菌和抗菌活性;本文鉴定了其生物合成过程中的关键环化步骤,为生产天然存在和合成的铱类化合物变体用于制药或农业提供了可能性。虹彩类化合物是一大类具有抗癌、消炎、抗真菌和抗菌活性的双环天然产物,本文报告了对虹彩合成酶的鉴定,这是虹彩类化合物生物合成过程中的一种关键酶。该酶通过一种新型的 NAD(P)H 依赖性级联反应生成双环系统。对其结构和功能的了解将有助于为农业和制药目的而改造和重建作物植物或微生物中的铱类化合物及相关途径。虹彩类化合物由一大类独特的双环单萜组成,具有广泛的药理活性,包括抗癌、抗炎、抗真菌和抗菌活性1,2,3,4。此外,某些虹彩类物质还被用作农业上重要的蚜虫物种的性信息素,这一事实为创新性虫害综合防治策略提供了基础5。要利用这一类天然产品的生物技术潜力,必须阐明生物合成途径中涉及的酶。在此,我们报告了鸢尾甙合成酶的发现,这是一种产生鸢尾甙环支架的植物源酶,生化测定、基因沉默、共表达分析和定位研究都证明了这一点。所有已知的单萜烯环化酶都使用二磷酸香叶酯作为底物并调用阳离子中间体,与此不同的是,鸢尾环合成酶使用线性单萜烯 10-oxogeranial 作为底物,并可能通过 DielsâAlder 环加成或迈克尔加成将最初的 NAD(P)H 依赖性还原步骤与随后的环化步骤结合起来。我们的研究结果说明了药用植物中的短链还原酶是如何作为环化酶用于生产虹彩类化合物的。此外,我们还强调了使用不相关的还原酶生成人工环状支架的前景。除了认识到环状萜类化合物生物合成的另一种生化机制之外,我们还预计我们的工作将使植物和微生物能够大规模异源生产虹彩类化合物,用于农业5,6,7,8 和医药1,2,3,4,9 应用。