Department of Pharmaceutical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering, Tianjin University, Ministry of Education, Tianjin 300072, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jun 14;22(12):6348. doi: 10.3390/ijms22126348.
Sesquiterpenes are important defense and signal molecules for plants to adapt to the environment, cope with stress, and communicate with the outside world, and their evolutionary history is closely related to physiological functions. In this study, the information of plant sesquiterpene synthases (STSs) with identified functions were collected and sorted to form a dataset containing about 500 members. The phylogeny of spermatophyte functional STSs was constructed based on the structural comparative analysis to reveal the sequence-structure-function relationships. We propose the evolutionary history of plant sesquiterpene skeletons, from chain structure to small rings, followed by large rings for the first time and put forward a more detailed function-driven hypothesis. Then, the evolutionary origins and history of spermatophyte STSs are also discussed. In addition, three newly identified STSs , and were analyzed in this functional evolutionary system, and their germacrene D products were consistent with the functional prediction. This demonstrates an application of the structure-based phylogeny in predicting STS function. This work will help us to understand evolutionary patterns and dynamics of plant sesquiterpenes and STSs and screen or design STSs with specific product profiles as functional elements for synthetic biology application.
倍半萜是植物适应环境、应对压力和与外界交流的重要防御和信号分子，其进化历史与生理功能密切相关。本研究收集和整理了具有明确功能的植物倍半萜合酶（STS）的信息，形成了一个包含约 500 个成员的数据集。基于结构比较分析构建了有功能的种子植物 STS 的系统发育，以揭示序列-结构-功能关系。我们首次提出了植物倍半萜骨架的进化历史，从链结构到小环，然后是大环，并提出了一个更详细的功能驱动假说。然后，还讨论了种子植物 STS 的进化起源和历史。此外，在这个功能进化系统中还分析了三个新鉴定的 STS（ 、 和 ），它们的大根香叶烯 D 产物与功能预测一致。这证明了基于结构的系统发育在预测 STS 功能方面的应用。这项工作将有助于我们了解植物倍半萜和 STS 的进化模式和动态，并筛选或设计具有特定产物谱的 STS，作为合成生物学应用的功能元件。
