Campus Units

Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Roy J. Carver Department of

Document Type

Article

Publication Version

Published Version

Publication Date

1-29-2021

Journal or Book Title

Nature Communications

Volume

12

First Page

685

DOI

10.1038/s41467-021-20959-1

Abstract

Tanshinones are the bioactive nor-diterpenoid constituents of the Chinese medicinal herb Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza). These groups of chemicals have the characteristic furan D-ring, which differentiates them from the phenolic abietane-type diterpenoids frequently found in the Lamiaceae family. However, how the 14,16-epoxy is formed has not been elucidated. Here, we report an improved genome assembly of Danshen using a highly homozygous genotype. We identify a cytochrome P450 (CYP71D) tandem gene array through gene expansion analysis. We show that CYP71D373 and CYP71D375 catalyze hydroxylation at carbon-16 (C16) and 14,16-ether (hetero)cyclization to form the D-ring, whereas CYP71D411 catalyzes upstream hydroxylation at C20. In addition, we discover a large biosynthetic gene cluster associated with tanshinone production. Collinearity analysis indicates a more specific origin of tanshinones in Salvia genus. It illustrates the evolutionary origin of abietane-type diterpenoids and those with a furan D-ring in Lamiaceae.

Comments

This article is published as Ma, Y., Cui, G., Chen, T. et al. Expansion within the CYP71D subfamily drives the heterocyclization of tanshinones synthesis in Salvia miltiorrhiza. Nat Commun 12, 685 (2021). doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-20959-1.

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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The Author(s)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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