Evolution of a flipped pathway creates metabolic innovation in tomato trichomes through BAHD enzyme promiscuity.

ABSTRACT: Plants produce hundreds of thousands of structurally diverse specialized metabolites via multistep biosynthetic networks, including compounds of ecological and therapeutic importance. These pathways are restricted to specific plant groups, and are excellent systems for understanding metabolic evolution. Tomato and other plants in the nightshade family synthesize protective acylated sugars in the tip cells of glandular trichomes on stems and leaves. We describe a metabolic innovation in wild tomato species that contributes to acylsucrose structural diversity. A small number of amino acid changes in two acylsucrose acyltransferases alter their acyl acceptor preferences, resulting in reversal of their order of reaction and increased product diversity. This study demonstrates how small numbers

SUBMITTER: Fan P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5727100 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature