Abstract
Key message
We found triptolide synthesis is correlated with the expressions of TwGGPPS1 and TwGGPPS4 . This lays the foundation for future studies of biosynthetic pathways for triptolide and other diterpenoids in T. wilfordii.
Abstract
Tripterygium wilfordii is a traditional Chinese medical plant commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. One of its main bioactive compounds is triptolide, which is identified as an abietane-type diterpenoid natural product. Geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase (GGPPS) catalyses the synthesis of GGPP (geranylgeranyl diphosphate), the common precursor of diterpenes, and is therefore a crucial enzyme in diterpene biosynthesis. A previous study showed that GGPP could be catalyzed by copalyl diphosphate synthase and kaurene synthase like of Salvia miltiorrhiza (SmCPS, SmKSL) to miltiradiene, a key intermediate in tanshinone biosynthesis. In this paper, five new full-length cDNAs (TwGGPPS) encoding GGPP synthases were cloned from T. wilfordii. Sequence comparisons revealed that all six TwGGPPSs (including TwGGPPS2 cloned previously) exhibit similarities to GGPPSs of other plants. Subsequent functional complement assays demonstrated that TwGGPPS1, TwGGPPS4 and TwGGPPS5 can participate in miltiradiene biosynthesis in the recombinant E. coli. Correlation analysis of gene expressions and secondary metabolite accumulation indicated that TwGGPPS1 and TwGGPPS4 are likely involved in the biosynthesis of triptolide. These findings lay the foundation for future studies of the biosynthetic pathways for triptolide and other diterpenoids in T. wilfordii.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81422053 and 81373906 to W.G, and 81325023 to L.H.), and National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program:2015AA0200908) to W.G., and the Author of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of China (201188) to W.G.
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Communicated by B. Li.
M. Zhang and P. Su contributed equally to this work.
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Zhang, M., Su, P., Zhou, YJ. et al. Identification of geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase genes from Tripterygium wilfordii . Plant Cell Rep 34, 2179–2188 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-015-1860-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-015-1860-3