Chen Xiao, Chen Junfeng, Feng Jingxian, Wang Yun, Li Shunuo, Xiao Ying, Diao Yong, Zhang Lei, Chen Wansheng
Center of Chinese Traditional Medicine Resources and Biotechnology, Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
School of Biomedical Sciences, Huaqiao University, Fujian, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2021 Mar 31;12:637695. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.637695. eCollection 2021.
Lignans are a class of chemicals formed by the combination of two molecules of phenylpropanoids with promising nutritional and pharmacological activities. Lignans glucosides, which are converted from aglycones catalyzed by uridine diphosphate (UDP) glycosyltransferases (UGTs), have abundant bioactivities. In the present study, two UGTs from Fort., namely UGT71B5a and UGT71B5b, were characterized to catalyze the glycosylation of lignans with promiscuities toward various sugar acceptors and sugar donors, and pinoresinol was the preferred substrate. UGT71B5a was capable of efficiently producing both pinoresinol monoglycoside and diglycoside. However, UGT71B5b only produced monoglycoside, and exhibited considerably lower activity than UGT71B5a. Substrate screening indicated that ditetrahydrofuran is the essential structural characteristic for sugar acceptors. The transcription of was highly consistent with the spatial distribution of pinoresinol glucosides, suggesting that UGT71B5s may play biological roles in the modification of pinoresinol in roots. This study not only provides insights into lignan biosynthesis, but also elucidates the functional diversity of the UGT family.
木脂素是一类由两个苯丙烷类分子结合形成的化学物质，具有良好的营养和药理活性。木脂素糖苷由尿苷二磷酸（UDP）糖基转移酶（UGTs）催化苷元转化而来，具有丰富的生物活性。在本研究中，对来自Fort.的两种UGTs，即UGT71B5a和UGT71B5b进行了表征，它们能够催化木脂素的糖基化反应，对各种糖受体和糖供体具有广泛的作用，而松脂醇是其首选底物。UGT71B5a能够高效地产生松脂醇单糖苷和双糖苷。然而，UGT71B5b仅产生单糖苷，且其活性远低于UGT71B5a。底物筛选表明，二氢呋喃是糖受体的基本结构特征。UGT71B5s的转录与松脂醇糖苷的空间分布高度一致，这表明UGT71B5s可能在Fort.根中松脂醇的修饰过程中发挥生物学作用。本研究不仅为木脂素生物合成提供了见解，还阐明了UGT家族的功能多样性。
