Reference "An unexpected diterpene cyclase from rice: functional identification of a stemodene synthase"

Reference ID

11693

Title

An unexpected diterpene cyclase from rice: functional identification of a stemodene synthase

Source

Archives of biochemistry and biophysics, 2006, vol. 448, pp. 133-140

Authors (6)

Morrone-D	Jin-Y
Xu-M	Choi-S-Y
Coates-R-M	Peters-R-J

Abstract

We have cloned a novel diterpene synthase (OsKSL11) from rice that produces stemod-13(17)-
ene from syn-copalyl diphosphate. Notably, this gene sequence was not predicted
from the extensive sequence information available for rice, nor, despite
extensive phytochemical investigations, has this diterpene or any derived
natural product previously been reported in rice plants. OsKSL11 represents the
first identified stemodene synthase, which catalyzes the committed step in
biosynthesis of the stemodane family of diterpenoid natural products, some of
which possess antiviral activity. In addition, OsKSL11 is highly homologous to
the mechanistically similar stemarene synthase recently identified from rice,
making this pair of diterpene cyclases an excellent model system for
investigating the enzymatic determinants for differential product outcome. The
unexpected nature of this cyclase and its product parallels recent observations
of previously unrecognized natural products metabolism in Arabidopsis thaliana,
suggesting that many, if not all, plant species will prove to have extensive
biosynthetic capacity.