methyl-jasmonate and dammarenediol

Dammarenediol-II is biologically active tetracyclic triterpenoid, which is basic compound of ginsenoside saponin. Here, we established the dammarenediol-II production via a cell suspension culture of transgenic tobacco overexpressing PgDDS. Dammarenediol-II synthase catalyzes the cyclization of 2,3-oxidosqualene to dammarenediol-II, which is the basic triterpene skeleton in dammarene-type saponin (ginsenosides) in Panax ginseng. Dammarenediol-II is a useful candidate both for pharmacologically active triterpenes and as a defense compound in plants. Dammarenediol-II is present in the roots of P. ginseng in trace amounts because it is an intermediate product in triterpene biosynthesis. In this work, we established the production of dammarenediol-II via cell suspension culture of transgenic tobacco. The dammarenediol-II synthase gene (PgDDS) isolated from P. ginseng was introduced into the Nicotiana tobacum genome under the control of 35S promoter by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Accumulation of dammarenediol-II in transgenic tobacco plants occurred in an organ-specific manner (roots > stems > leaves > flower buds), and transgenic line 14 (T14) exhibited a high amount (157.8 μg g⁻¹ DW) of dammarenediol-II in the roots. Dammarenediol-II production in transgenic tobacco plants resulted in reduced phytosterol (β-sitosterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol) contents. A cell suspension culture was established as a shake flask culture of a callus derived from root segments of transgenic (T14) plants. The amount of dammarenediol-II production in the cell suspension reached 573 μg g⁻¹ dry weight after 3 weeks of culture, which is equivalent to a culture volume of 5.2 mg dammarenediol-II per liter. Conclusively, the production of dammarenediol-II in a cell suspension culture of transgenic tobacco can be applied to the large-scale production of this compound and utilized as a source of pharmacologically active medicinal materials.

Topics: Acetates; Alkyl and Aryl Transferases; Cells, Cultured; Cyclopentanes; Flowers; Gene Expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Ginsenosides; Metabolic Engineering; Nicotiana; Organ Specificity; Oxylipins; Panax; Plant Growth Regulators; Plant Leaves; Plant Roots; Plant Stems; Plants, Genetically Modified; Saponins; Triterpenes

Ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) is one of the most popular medicinal herbs and contains pharmacologically active components, ginsenosides, in its roots. Ginsenosides, a class of tetracyclic triterpene saponins, are thought to be synthesized from dammarenediol-II after hydroxylation by the Cyt P450 (CYP) enzyme and then glycosylation by glycosyltransferase (GT). However, no genes encoding the hydroxylation and glycosylation in ginsenoside biosynthesis have been identified. Here, we identify protopanaxadiol synthase, which is a CYP enzyme (CYP716A47), to be involved in the hydroxylation of dammarenediol-II at the C-12 position to yield protopanaxadiol. Nine putative full CYP sequences were isolated from the expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of methyl jasmonate (MeJA)-treated adventitious ginseng roots. The CYP716A47 gene product was selected as the putative protopanaxadiol synthase because this gene was transcriptionally activated not only by MeJA treatment but also in transgenic ginseng that overexpresses squalene synthase and overproduces ginsenosides. In vitro enzymatic activity assays revealed that CYP716A47 catalyzed the oxidation of dammarenediol-II to produce protopanaxadiol. Ectopic expression of CYP716A47 in recombinant WAT21 yeasts that were fed dammarenediol-II yielded protopanaxadiol. Furthermore, co-expression of the dammarenediol synthase gene (PgDDS) and CYP716A47 in yeast yielded protopanaxadiol without adding dammarenediol-II. The chemical structures of the protopanaxadiol products from dammarenediol-II were confirmed using liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (LC/APCIMS). Thus, CYP716A47 is a dammarenediol 12-hydroxylase that produces protopanaxadiol from dammarenediol-II.

Topics: Acetates; Biocatalysis; Biosynthetic Pathways; Chromatography, Liquid; Cyclopentanes; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; DNA, Complementary; Expressed Sequence Tags; Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gene Library; Genes, Plant; Ginsenosides; Mass Spectrometry; Oxylipins; Panax; Phylogeny; Plants, Genetically Modified; RNA, Messenger; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Sapogenins; Saponins; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Transcription, Genetic; Triterpenes