A Novel Class of Plant Type III Polyketide Synthase Involved in Orsellinic Acid Biosynthesis from Rhododendron dauricum.

ABSTRACT: Rhododendron dauricum L. produces daurichromenic acid, the anti-HIV meroterpenoid consisting of sesquiterpene and orsellinic acid (OSA) moieties. To characterize the enzyme responsible for OSA biosynthesis, a cDNA encoding a novel polyketide synthase (PKS), orcinol synthase (ORS), was cloned from young leaves of R. dauricum. The primary structure of ORS shared relatively low identities to those of PKSs from other plants, and the active site of ORS had a unique amino acid composition. The bacterially expressed, recombinant ORS accepted acetyl-CoA as the preferable starter substrate, and produced orcinol as the major reaction product, along with four minor products including OSA. The ORS identified in this study is the first plant PKS that generates acetate-derived aromatic tet

SUBMITTER: Taura F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5037138 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature