Elucidation of the (R)-enantiospecific benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthetic pathways in sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera).

ABSTRACT: Benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs) are a structurally diverse group of plant specialized metabolites found mainly in members of the order Ranunculales, including opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), for which BIA biosynthetic pathways leading to the critical drugs morphine, noscapine, and sanguinarine have been elucidated. Sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), in the order Proteales, accumulates medicinal BIAs in the proaporphine, aporphine, and bisbenzylisoquinoline structural subgroups with a prevalence of R enantiomers, opposed to the dominant S configuration occurring in the Ranunculales. Nevertheless, distinctive BIA biosynthetic routes in sacred lotus have not been explored. In planta labeling experiments and in vitro assays with recombinant enzymes and plant protein extracts showed that do

SUBMITTER: Menendez-Perdomo IM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9940101 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature