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Critical enzymes for biosynthesis of cucurbitacin derivatives in watermelon and their biological significance

Authors :
Yeong-Geun Lee
Ahra Cha
Daeun Choi
Youngseok Lee
Suman Rimal
Nam-In Baek
Young-Cheon Kim
Jiun Sang
Sanghyeob Lee
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.

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