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Cloning and characterization of norbelladine synthase catalyzing the first committed reaction in Amaryllidaceae alkaloid biosynthesis

BACKGROUND: Amaryllidaceae alkaloids (AAs) are a large group of plant-specialized metabolites displaying an array of biological and pharmacological properties. Previous investigations on AA biosynthesis have revealed that all AAs share a common precursor, norbelladine, presumably synthesized by an e...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Singh, Aparna, Massicotte, Marie-Ange, Garand, Ariane, Tousignant, Laurence, Ouellette, Vincent, Bérubé, Gervais, Desgagné-Penix, Isabel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6286614/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30526483
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12870-018-1570-4
Descripción
Sumario:BACKGROUND: Amaryllidaceae alkaloids (AAs) are a large group of plant-specialized metabolites displaying an array of biological and pharmacological properties. Previous investigations on AA biosynthesis have revealed that all AAs share a common precursor, norbelladine, presumably synthesized by an enzyme catalyzing a Mannich reaction involving the condensation of tyramine and 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde. Similar reactions have been reported. Specifically, norcoclaurine synthase (NCS) which catalyzes the condensation of dopamine and 4-hydroxyphenylacetaldehyde as the first step in benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis. RESULTS: With the availability of wild daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) database, a transcriptome-mining search was performed for NCS orthologs. A candidate gene sequence was identified and named norbelladine synthase (NBS). NpNBS encodes for a small protein of 19 kDa with an anticipated pI of 5.5. Phylogenetic analysis showed that NpNBS belongs to a unique clade of PR10/Bet v1 proteins and shared 41% amino acid identity to opium poppy NCS1. Expression of NpNBS cDNA in Escherichia coli produced a recombinant enzyme able to condense tyramine and 3,4-DHBA into norbelladine as determined by high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry. CONCLUSIONS: Here, we describe a novel enzyme catalyzing the first committed step of AA biosynthesis, which will facilitate the establishment of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology platforms for the production of AAs. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12870-018-1570-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.