Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Mitsui Link Lab, Kashiwanoha 1, FS CREATION, 6-6-2 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-0882, Japan.
Division of Advanced Molecular Science, Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), Okazaki, Aichi 444-8787, Japan.
J Am Chem Soc. 2023 Dec 6;145(48):25966-25970. doi: 10.1021/jacs.3c10603. Epub 2023 Nov 27.
Giant viruses are nonstandard viruses with large particles and genomes. While previous studies have shown that their genomes contain various sequences of interest, their genes related specifically to natural product biosynthesis remain unexplored. Here we analyze the function and structure of a terpene synthase encoded by the gene of a giant virus. The enzyme is phylogenetically separated from the terpene synthases of cellular organisms; however, heterologous gene expression revealed that it still functions as a terpene synthase and produces a cyclic terpene from a farnesyl diphosphate precursor. Crystallographic analysis revealed its protein structure, which is relatively compact but retains essential motifs of the terpene synthases. We thus suggest that like cellular organisms, giant viruses produce and utilize natural products for their ecological strategies.
巨型病毒是具有大颗粒和大基因组的非标准病毒。虽然先前的研究表明，它们的基因组包含各种感兴趣的序列，但它们与天然产物生物合成相关的基因仍未被探索。在这里，我们分析了由巨型病毒基因编码的萜烯合酶的功能和结构。该酶在系统发育上与细胞生物的萜烯合酶分离；然而，异源基因表达表明它仍然是一种萜烯合酶，并从前体法呢基二磷酸中产生环状萜烯。晶体结构分析揭示了其蛋白质结构，该结构相对紧凑，但保留了萜烯合酶的必需基序。因此，我们认为巨型病毒与细胞生物一样，为了其生态策略而产生和利用天然产物。
