Occurrence of Isopenicillin-N-Synthase Homologs in Bioluminescent Ctenophores and Implications for Coelenterazine Biosynthesis.

ABSTRACT: The biosynthesis of the luciferin coelenterazine has remained a mystery for decades. While not all organisms that use coelenterazine appear to make it themselves, it is thought that ctenophores are a likely producer. Here we analyze the transcriptome data of 24 species of ctenophores, two of which have published genomes. The natural precursors of coelenterazine have been shown to be the amino acids L-tyrosine and L-phenylalanine, with the most likely biosynthetic pathway involving cyclization and further modification of the tripeptide Phe-Tyr-Tyr ("FYY"). Therefore, we searched the ctenophore transcriptome data for genes with the short peptide "FYY" as part of their coding sequence. We recovered a group of candidate genes for coelenterazine biosynthesis in the luminous species which encode

SUBMITTER: Francis WR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4488382 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature