Sanguinarine reductase, a key enzyme of benzophenanthridine detoxification.

Cultured cells of Eschscholzia californica respond to a yeast glycoprotein elicitor by producing benzophenanthridine alkaloids, which are excreted into the cell wall and the outer medium. These compounds, preferentially sanguinarine, are efficient phytoalexins because of their ability to intercalate double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), penetrate membranes and inhibit various enzymes containing SH-groups. Externally added sanguinarine is rapidly taken up by intact cells and converted to dihydrosanguinarine, which is substituted intracellularly according to the biosynthetic route. A 29.5 kDa soluble enzyme that catalyses the reduction of sanguinarine and chelerythrine by either NADPH or NADH has been isolated and purified to homogeneity. Benzophenanthridines that accumulate in the outer medium, mainly 10-OH-chelerythrine, chelirubine and macarpine, are converted by the isolated enzyme and by intact cells at much slower rates than sanguinarine. The cellular capacity of uptake and conversion of sanguinarine largely surpasses the rate of alkaloid production. We conclude that the sanguinarine produced by intact cells, after excretion and binding to cell wall elements, is rapidly reabsorbed and reduced to the less toxic dihydrosanguinarine, which then undergoes further biosynthetic reactions. This recycling process would allow the presence of the toxic phytoalexin at the cellular surface without taking the risk of injuring the producing cell.