Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Dept. Cell and Metabolic Biology, Halle (Saale), Germany.
Core Facility Vienna Botanical Gardens, Vienna, Austria.
Commun Biol. 2021 Apr 8;4(1):445. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-01967-9.
Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) is the world's most popular spice and is also used as an ingredient in traditional medicine. Its pungent perception is due to the interaction of its major compound, piperine (1-piperoyl-piperidine) with the human TRPV-1 or vanilloid receptor. We now identify the hitherto concealed enzymatic formation of piperine from piperoyl coenzyme A and piperidine based on a differential RNA-Seq approach from developing black pepper fruits. This enzyme is described as piperine synthase (piperoyl-CoA:piperidine piperoyl transferase) and is a member of the BAHD-type of acyltransferases encoded by a gene that is preferentially expressed in immature fruits. A second BAHD-type enzyme, also highly expressed in immature black pepper fruits, has a rather promiscuous substrate specificity, combining diverse CoA-esters with aliphatic and aromatic amines with similar efficiencies, and was termed piperamide synthase. Recombinant piperine and piperamide synthases are members of a small gene family in black pepper. They can be used to facilitate the microbial production of a broad range of medicinally relevant aliphatic and aromatic piperamides based on a wide array of CoA-donors and amine-derived acceptors, offering widespread applications.
黑胡椒（Piper nigrum L.）是世界上最受欢迎的香料，也被用作传统医学的一种成分。其辛辣的感觉是由于其主要化合物胡椒碱（1-胡椒酰基哌啶）与人类 TRPV-1 或香草素受体相互作用的结果。我们现在根据来自发育中的黑胡椒果实的差异 RNA-Seq 方法，确定了迄今为止隐藏的从胡椒酰辅酶 A 和哌啶形成胡椒碱的酶促过程。这种酶被描述为胡椒碱合酶（胡椒酰辅酶 A：哌啶胡椒酰转移酶），是由一个在未成熟果实中优先表达的基因编码的 BAHD 型酰基转移酶家族的成员。第二种 BAHD 型酶在未成熟的黑胡椒果实中也高度表达，具有相当混杂的底物特异性，以相似的效率将各种 CoA 酯与脂肪族和芳香族胺结合，因此被称为胡椒酰胺合酶。重组胡椒碱和胡椒酰胺合酶是黑胡椒中一个小基因家族的成员。它们可以用于促进微生物生产广泛的基于各种 CoA 供体和胺衍生受体的具有药用相关性的脂肪族和芳香族胡椒酰胺，具有广泛的应用。
