Search

Glycosylation is an efficient strategy to modulate the solubility, stability, bioavailability and bioactivity of drug-like natural products. Biological methods, such as whole-cell biocatalyst, promise a simple but highly effective approach to glycosylate biologically active small molecules with remarkable regio- and stereo-selectivity. Herein, we use the entomopathogenic filamentous fungus Isaria fumosorosea ACCC 37814 to biotransform a panel of phenolic natural products, including flavonoids and anthraquinone, into their glycosides. Six new flavonoid (4-O-methyl)glucopyranosides are obtained and structurally characterized using high resolution mass and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic techniques. These compounds further expand the structural diversity of flavonoid glycosides and may be used in biological study.

Glycosylation is an efficient strategy to modulate the solubility, stability, bioavailability and bioactivity of drug-like natural products. Biological methods, such as whole-cell biocatalyst, promise a simple but highly effective approach to glycosylate biologically active small molecules with remarkable regio- and stereo-selectivity. Herein, we use the entomopathogenic filamentous fungus Isaria fumosorosea ACCC 37814 to biotransform a panel of phenolic natural products, including flavonoids and anthraquinone, into their glycosides. Six new flavonoid (4-O-methyl)glucopyranosides are obtained and structurally characterized using high resolution mass and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic techniques. These compounds further expand the structural diversity of flavonoid glycosides and may be used in biological study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycosylation endows both natural and synthetic small molecules with modulated physicochemical and biological properties. Plant and bacterial glycosyltransferases capable of decorating various privileged scaffolds have been extensively studied, but those from kingdom Fungi still remain underexploited. Here, we use a combination of genome mining and heterologous expression techniques to identify four novel glycosyltransferase-methyltransferase (GT-MT) functional modules from Hypocreales fungi. These GT-MT modules display decent substrate promiscuity and regiospecificity, methylglucosylating a panel of natural products such as flavonoids, stilbenoids, anthraquinones, and benzenediol lactones. Native GT-MT modules can be split up and regrouped into hybrid modules with similar or even improved efficacy as compared with native pairs. Methylglucosylation of kaempferol considerably improves its insecticidal activity against the larvae of oriental armyworm Mythimna separata (Walker). Our work provides a set of efficient biocatalysts for the combinatorial biosynthesis of small molecule glycosides that may have significant importance to the pharmaceutical, agricultural, and food industries.