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Critical enzymes for biosynthesis of cucurbitacin derivatives in watermelon and their biological significance
- Source :
- Communications Biology, Vol 3, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2020), Communications Biology
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Various cucurbitacins have been isolated, and their structures have been elucidated. Owing to their economic potential and importance as active pharmacological compounds, their cytotoxicity in various cancer cells has been assessed. Here, we mined several candidate genes with potential involvement in cucurbitacin biosynthesis in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) and performed in vitro enzymatic assays and instrumental analyses using various substrates to identify cucurbitacin functions and products. Enzymatic activities of two acetyltransferases (ACTs) and one UDP-glucosyltransferase (UGT) against cucurbitacins were confirmed, resulting in the synthesis of novel cucurbitacins in vivo and/or in vitro to our knowledge. As ACTs and UGT are involved in the dynamic conversion of cucurbitacins by catalyzing acetylation and glucosylation at moieties in the cucurbitacins skeleton, these findings improve our knowledge on how these genes contribute to the diversity of cucurbitacins.<br />Kim et al. use RNAseq of two watermelons to select candidate genes coding for enzymes that catalyze modifications of cucurbitacins. They characterise four of the 16 candidate enzymes (3 different acetyltransferases and one UDP-glucosyltransferase) by HPLC, LC-MS, NMR, and in vitro enzymatic assay. They further show with in vivo assay in Drosophila, that acetylation of cucurbitacin increases neuronal activity in insects.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine
Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Plant physiology
Medicine (miscellaneous)
01 natural sciences
Article
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Citrullus
03 medical and health sciences
chemistry.chemical_compound
Cucurbitacins
Biosynthesis
Acetyltransferases
Carbon-13 Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Secondary metabolism
lcsh:QH301-705.5
chemistry.chemical_classification
Chemistry
Cucurbitacin
Acetylation
Carbon
In vitro
Biosynthetic Pathways
Kinetics
030104 developmental biology
Enzyme
lcsh:Biology (General)
Biochemistry
Biocatalysis
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
010606 plant biology & botany
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 23993642
- Volume :
- 3
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Communications Biology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ce1deda7ef7daf15fb5f76db7e5bf21a
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01170-2