TRI of CAAS-UVA Joint Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Tobacco Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao, 266101, China.
Department of Biology, University of Virginia, 485 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA.
Microb Cell Fact. 2021 Feb 2;20(1):29. doi: 10.1186/s12934-021-01523-4.
Cembranoids are one kind of diterpenoids with multiple biological activities. The tobacco cembratriene-ol (CBT-ol) and cembratriene-diol (CBT-diol) have high anti-insect and anti-fungal activities, which is attracting great attentions for their potential usage in sustainable agriculture. Cembranoids were supposed to be formed through the 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol-4-phosphate (MEP) pathway, yet the involvement of mevalonate (MVA) pathway in their synthesis remains unclear. Exploring the roles of MVA pathway in cembranoid synthesis could contribute not only to the technical approach but also to the molecular mechanism for cembranoid biosynthesis.
We constructed vectors to express cembratriene-ol synthase (CBTS1) and its fusion protein (AD-CBTS1) containing an N-terminal GAL4 AD domain as a translation leader in yeast. Eventually, the modified enzyme AD-CBTS1 was successfully expressed, which further resulted in the production of CBT-ol in the yeast strain BY-T20 with enhanced MVA pathway for geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP) production but not in other yeast strains with low GGPP supply. Subsequently, CBT-diol was also synthesized by co-expression of the modified enzyme AD-CBTS1 and BD-CYP450 in the yeast strain BY-T20.
We demonstrated that yeast is insensitive to the tobacco anti-fungal compound CBT-ol or CBT-diol and could be applied to their biosynthesis. This study further established a feasibility for cembranoid production via the MVA pathway and provided an alternative bio-approach for cembranoid biosynthesis in microbes.
海松烷二萜类化合物具有多种生物活性,是二萜类化合物的一种。烟草贝壳杉烯-醇(CBT-ol)和贝壳杉烯二醇(CBT-diol)具有高效的抗虫和抗真菌活性,因其在可持续农业中的潜在应用而备受关注。这些化合物被认为是通过 2-C-甲基-D-赤藓醇-4-磷酸(MEP)途径形成的,但它们的合成是否涉及甲羟戊酸(MVA)途径仍不清楚。探讨 MVA 途径在海松烷二萜合成中的作用不仅有助于了解其技术途径,而且有助于了解其分子机制。
我们构建了载体,在酵母中表达贝壳杉烯醇合酶(CBTS1)及其融合蛋白(AD-CBTS1),融合蛋白含有 N 端 GAL4 AD 结构域作为翻译起始序列。最终,成功表达了经过修饰的酶 AD-CBTS1,并且在增强了香叶基香叶基二磷酸(GGPP)生产的 MVA 途径的酵母菌株 BY-T20 中产生了 CBT-ol,但在其他 GGPP 供应较低的酵母菌株中没有产生。随后,通过在酵母菌株 BY-T20 中共同表达修饰后的酶 AD-CBTS1 和 BD-CYP450,也合成了 CBT-diol。
我们证明了酵母对烟草抗真菌化合物 CBT-ol 或 CBT-diol 不敏感,可以应用于它们的生物合成。本研究进一步确立了通过 MVA 途径生产海松烷二萜类化合物的可行性,并为微生物中海松烷二萜类化合物的生物合成提供了一种替代方法。