Evolutionary routes to biochemical innovation revealed by integrative analysis of a plant-defense related specialized metabolic pathway.

ABSTRACT: The diversity of life on Earth is a result of continual innovations in molecular networks influencing morphology and physiology. Plant specialized metabolism produces hundreds of thousands of compounds, offering striking examples of these innovations. To understand how this novelty is generated, we investigated the evolution of the Solanaceae family-specific, trichome-localized acylsugar biosynthetic pathway using a combination of mass spectrometry, RNA-seq, enzyme assays, RNAi and phylogenomics in different non-model species. Our results reveal hundreds of acylsugars produced across the Solanaceae family and even within a single plant, built on simple sugar cores. The relatively short biosynthetic pathway experienced repeated cycles of innovation over the last 100 million years that inclu

SUBMITTER: Moghe GD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5595436 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature