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Functional Divergence of Diterpene Syntheses in the Medicinal Plant Salvia miltiorrhiza
Plant Physiology
  • Guanghong Cui, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Lixin Duan, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Baolong Jin, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences
  • Jun Qian, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Zheyong Xue, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Guoan Shen, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • John Hugh Snyder, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Jingyuan Song, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Shilin Chen, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Luqi Huang, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences
  • Reuben J. Peters, Iowa State University
  • Xiaoquan Qi, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Accepted Manuscript
Publication Date
1-1-2015
DOI
10.1104/pp.15.00695
Abstract

The medicinal plant Salvia miltiorrhiza produces various tanshinone diterpenoids that have pharmacological activities such as vasorelaxation, against ischemia-reperfusion injury, and antiarrhythmic effects. Their biosynthesis is initiated from the general diterpenoid precursor (E,E,E)-geranylgeranyl diphosphate by sequential reactions catalyzed by copalyl diphosphate synthase (CPS) and kaurene synthase-like (KSL) cyclases. Here is reported characterization of these enzymatic families from S. miltiorrhiza, which has led to the identification of novel pathways, including roles for separate CPSs in tanshinone production in roots versus aerial tissues (SmCPS1 and SmCPS2, respectively), as well as the novel production of ent-13-epi-manoyl oxide by SmCPS4 and SmKSL2 in floral sepals. The conserved SmCPS5 is involved in gibberellin plant hormone biosynthesis. Down-regulation of SmCPS1 by RNAi resulted in substantial reduction of tanshinones, and metabolomics analysis revealed 21 potential intermediates, indicating a complex network for tanshinone metabolism defined by certain key biosynthetic steps. Notably, the correlation between conservation pattern and stereochemical product outcome of the CPSs observed here, suggests a degree of correlation that, especially when combined with the identity of certain key residues, may be predictive. Accordingly, this study provides molecular insights into the evolutionary diversification of functional diterpenoids in plants.

Comments

This is a manuscript of an article published as Cui, G., Duan, L., Jin, B., Qian, J., Xue, Z., Shen, G., Snyder, J.H., Song, J., Chen, S., Huang, L., Peters, R.J., Qi, X. (2015) “Functional divergence of diterpene synthases in the medicinal plant Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge”, Plant Physiol., 169(3):1607-1618. doi: 10.1104/pp.15.00695. Posted with permission.

Copyright Owner
American Society of Plant Biologists
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Guanghong Cui, Lixin Duan, Baolong Jin, Jun Qian, et al.. "Functional Divergence of Diterpene Syntheses in the Medicinal Plant Salvia miltiorrhiza" Plant Physiology Vol. 169 Iss. 3 (2015) p. 1607 - 1618
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/reuben_peters/22/