Die Plant Science Student Conference (PSSC) wird seit 20 Jahren im jährlichen Wechsel von Studierenden der beiden Leibniz-Institute IPK und IPB organisiert. Im Interview erläutern Christina Wäsch (IPK) und Carolin Apel (IPB),…
Über 600 Gäste kamen am 4. Juli ans IPB zur Langen Nacht, die Wissen schafft, um bei unserem Wissenschafts-Quiz-Parcours viel Neues zu erfahren und ihre Kenntnisse unter Beweis zu stellen. Unser Programm in diesem Jahr…
Piechulla, B.; Zhang, C.; Eisenschmidt-Bönn, D.; Chen, F.; Magnus, N.;Non-canonical substrates for terpene synthases in bacteria are synthesized by a new family of methyltransferasesFEMS Microbiology Reviews45fuab024(2021)DOI: 10.1093/femsre/fuab024
The ‘biogenetic isoprene rule’, formulated in the mid 20th century, predicted that terpenoids are biosynthesized via polymerization of C5 isoprene units. The polymerizing enzymes have been identified to be isoprenyl diphosphate synthases, products of which are catalyzed by terpene synthases (TPSs) to achieve vast structural diversity of terpene skeletons. Irregular terpenes (e.g, C11, C12, C16 and C17) are also frequently observed, and they have presumed to be synthesized by the modification of terpene skeletons. This review highlights the exciting discovery of an additional route to the biosynthesis of irregular terpenes which involves the action of a newly discovered enzyme family of isoprenyl diphosphate methyltransferases (IDMTs). These enzymes methylate, and sometimes cyclize, the classical isoprenyl diphosphate substrates to produce modified, non-canonical substrates for specifically evolved TPSs. So far, this new pathway has been found only in bacteria. Structure and sequence comparisons of the IDMTs strongly indicate a conservation of their active pockets and overall topologies. Some bacterial IDMTs and TPSs appear in small gene clusters, which may facilitate future mining of bacterial genomes for identification of irregular terpene-producing enzymes. The IDMT-TPS route for terpenoid biosynthesis presents another example of nature\'s ingenuity in creating chemical diversity, particularly terpenoids, for organismal fitness.