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Forskolin, a complex labdane diterpenoid found in the root of Coleus forskohlii (Lamiaceae), has received attention for its broad range of pharmacological activities, yet the biosynthesis has not been elucidated. We detected forskolin in the root cork of forskohlii in a specialized cell type containing characteristic structures with histochemical properties consistent with oil bodies. Organelle purification and chemical analysis confirmed the localization of forskolin and of its simplest diterpene precursor backbone, (13R) manoyl oxide, to the oil bodies. The labdane diterpene backbone is typically synthesized by two successive reactions catalyzed by two distinct classes of diterpene synthases. We have recently described the identification of a small gene family of diterpene synthase candidates (CfTPSs) in C. forskohlii. Here, we report the functional characterization of four CfTPSs using in vitro and in planta assays. CfTPS2, which synthesizes the intermediate copal-8-ol diphosphate, in combination with CfTPS3 resulted in the stereospecific formation of (13R) manoyl oxide, while the combination of CfTPSl and CfTPS3 or CfTPS4 led to formation of miltiradiene, precursor of abietane diterpenoids in C. forskohlii. Expression profiling and phylogenetic analysis of the CfTPS family further support the functional diversification and distinct roles of the individual diterpene synthases and the involvement of CfTPSl to CfTPS4 in specialized metabolism and of CfTPS14 and CfTPS15 in general metabolism. Our findings pave the way toward the discovery of the remaining components of the pathway to forskolin, likely localized in this specialized cell type, and support a role of oil bodies as storage organelles for lipophilic bioactive metabolites.

Background Forskolin is a high-value diterpenoid produced exclusively by the Lamiaceae plant Coleus forskohlii. Today forskolin is used pharmaceutically for its adenyl-cyclase activating properties. The limited availability of pure  forskolin is currently hindering its full utilization, thus a new environmentally friendly, scalable and sustainable strategy is needed for forskolin production. Recently, the entire biosynthetic pathway leading to forskolin was elucidated. The key steps of the pathway are catalyzed by cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs), which have been shown to be the limiting steps of the pathway. Here we study whether protein engineering of the substrate recognition sites (SRSs) of CYPs can improve their efficiency towards forskolin biosynthesis in yeast. Results As a proof of concept, we engineered the enzyme responsible for the first putative oxygenation step of the forskolin pathway: the conversion of 13 R -manoyl oxide to 11-oxo-13 R -manoyl oxide, catalyzed by the CYP76AH15. Four CYP76AH15 variants—engineered in the SRS regions—yielded at least a twofold increase of 11-oxo-13 R -manoyl oxide when expressed in yeast cells grown in microtiter plates. The highest titers (5.6-fold increase) were observed with the variant A99I, mutated in the SRS1 region. Double or triple CYP76AH15 mutant variants resulted in additional enzymes with optimized performances. Moreover, in planta CYP76AH15 can synthesize ferruginol from miltiradiene. In this work, we showed that the mutants affecting 11-oxo-13 R -manoyl oxide synthesis, do not affect ferruginol production, and vice versa. The best performing variant, A99I, was utilized to reconstruct the forskolin biosynthetic pathway in yeast cells. Although these strains showed increased 11-oxo-manoyl oxide production and higher accumulation of other pathway intermediates compared to the native CYP76AH15, lower production of forskolin was observed. Conclusions As demonstrated for CYP76AH15, site-directed mutagenesis of SRS regions of plant CYPs may be an efficient and targeted approach to increase the performance of these enzymes. Although in this work we have managed to achieve higher efficiency and specificity of the first CYP of the pathway, further work is necessary in order to increase the overall production of forskolin in yeast cells.

Cytochrome P450 enzymes of the CYP720B subfamily play a central role in the biosynthesis of diterpene resin acids (DRAs), which are a major component of the conifer oleoresin defense system. CYP720Bs exist in families of up to a dozen different members in conifer genomes and fall into four different clades (I–IV). Only two CYP720B members, loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) PtCYP720B1 and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) PsCYP720B4, have been characterized previously. Both are multisubstrate and multifunctional clade III enzymes, which catalyze consecutive three-step oxidations in the conversion of diterpene olefins to DRAs. These reactions resemble the sequential diterpene oxidations affording ent-kaurenoic acid from ent-kaurene in gibberellin biosynthesis. Here, we functionally characterized the CYP720B clade I enzymes CYP720B2 and CYP720B12 in three different conifer species, Sitka spruce, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), and jack pine (Pinus banksiana), and compared their activities with those of the clade III enzymes CYP720B1 and CYP720B4 of the same species. Unlike the clade III enzymes, clade I enzymes were ultimately found not to be active with diterpene olefins but converted the recently discovered, unstable diterpene synthase product 13-hydroxy-8(14)-abietene. Through alternative routes, CYP720B enzymes of both clades produce some of the same profiles of conifer oleoresin DRAs (abietic acid, neoabietic acid, levopimaric acid, and palustric acid), while clade III enzymes also function in the formation of pimaric acid, isopimaric acid, and sandaracopimaric acid. These results highlight the modularity of the specialized (i.e. secondary) diterpene metabolism, which produces conifer defense metabolites through variable combinations of different diterpene synthase and CYP720B enzymes.

Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) produces not only a group of diterpenoid glycosides known as steviol glycosides (SGs), but also other labdane-type diterpenoids that may be spatially separated from SGs. However, their biosynthetic routes and spatial distribution in leaf tissues have not yet been elucidated. Here, we integrate metabolome and transcriptome analyses of Stevia to explore the biosynthetic capacity of leaf tissues for diterpenoid metabolism. Tissue-specific chemical analyses confirmed that SGs were accumulated in leaf cells but not in trichomes. On the other hand, Stevia leaf trichomes stored other labdane-type diterpenoids such as oxomanoyl oxide and agatholic acid. RNA sequencing analyses from two different tissues of Stevia provided a comprehensive overview of dynamic metabolic activities in trichomes and leaf without trichomes. These metabolite-guided transcriptomics and phylogenetic and gene expression analyses clearly identified specific gene members encoding enzymes involved in the 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate pathway and the biosynthesis of steviol or other labdane-type diterpenoids. Additionally, our RNA sequencing analysis uncoveredcopalyl diphosphate synthase (SrCPS)andkaurene synthase1 (SrKS1)homologs,SrCPS2andKS-like (SrKSL), which were specifically expressed in trichomes. In vitro and in planta assays showed that unlike SrCPS and SrKS1, SrCPS2 synthesized labda-13-en-8-ol diphosphate and successively catalyzed the formation of manoyl oxide andepi-manoyl oxide in combination with SrKSL. Our findings suggest that Stevia may have evolved to use distinct metabolic pathways to avoid metabolic interferences in leaf tissues for efficient production of diverse secondary metabolites.

Cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) play major roles in generating highly functionalized terpenoids, but identifying the exact biotransformation step(s) catalyzed by plant CYP in terpenoid biosynthesis is extremely challenging. Tanshinones are abietane-type norditerpenoid naphthoquinones that are the main lipophilic bioactive components of the Chinese medicinal herb danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza). Whereas the diterpene synthases responsible for the conversion of (E,E,E)-geranylgeranyl diphosphate into the abietane miltiradiene, a potential precursor to tanshinones, have been recently described, molecular characterization of further transformation of miltiradiene remains unavailable. Here we report stableisotope labeling results that demonstrate the intermediacy of miltiradiene in tanshinone biosynthesis. We further use a next-generation sequencing approach to identify six candidate CYP genes being coregulated with the diterpene synthase genes in both the rhizome and danshen hairy roots, and demonstrate that one of these, CYP76AH1, catalyzes a unique four-electron oxidation cascade on miltiradiene to produce ferruginol both in vitro and in vivo. We then build upon the previous establishment of miltiradiene production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with incorporation of CYP76AH1 and phyto-CYP reductase genes leading to heterologous production of ferruginol at 10.5 mg/L As ferruginol has been found in many plants including danshen, the results and the approaches that were described here provide a solid foundation to further elucidate the biosynthesis of tanshinones and related diterpenoids. Moreover, these results should facilitate the construction of microbial cell factories for the production of phytoterpenoids.

Diterpene resin acids (DRAs) are important components of oleoresin and greatly contribute to the defense strategies of conifers against herbivorous insects. In the present study, we determined that DRAs function as insect juvenile hormone (JH) antagonists that interfere with the juvenile hormone-mediated binding of the JH receptor Methoprene-tolerant (Met) and steroid receptor coactivator (SRC). Using a yeast two-hybrid system transformed with Met and SRC from the Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella , we tested the interfering activity of 3704 plant extracts against JH III-mediated Met-SRC binding. Plant extracts from conifers, especially members of the Pinaceae, exhibited strong interfering activity, and four active interfering DRAs (7α-dehydroabietic acid, 7-oxodehydroabietic acid, dehydroabietic acid, and sandaracopimaric acid) were isolated from roots of the Japanese pine Pinus densiflora . The four isolated DRAs, along with abietic acid, disrupted the juvenile hormone-mediated binding of P. interpunctella Met and SRC, although only 7-oxodehydroabietic acid disrupted larval development. These results demonstrate that DRAs may play a defensive role against herbivorous insects via insect endocrine-disrupting activity.

MAIN CONCLUSION: We report a novel physiological response to blue light in the moss Physcomitrella patens . Blue light regulates ent -kaurene biosynthesis and avoidance response to protonemal growth. Gibberellins (GAs) are a group of diterpene-type plant hormones biosynthesized from ent-kaurenoic acid via ent-kaurene. While the moss Physcomitrella patens has part of the GA biosynthetic pathway, from geranylgeranyl diphosphate to ent-kaurenoic acid, no GA is found in this species. Caulonemal differentiation in a P. patens mutant with a disrupted bifunctional ent-copalyl diphosphate synthase/ent-kaurene synthase (PpCPS/KS) gene is suppressed under red light, and is recovered by application of ent-kaurene and ent-kaurenoic acid. This indicates that derivatives of ent-kaurenoic acid, not GAs, might act as endogenous developmental regulators. Here, we found unique responses in the protonemal growth of P. patens under unilateral blue light, and these regulators were involved in the responses. When protonemata of the wild type were incubated under blue light, the chloronemal filaments grew in the opposite direction to the light source. Although this avoidance was not observed in the ent-kaurene deficient mutant, chloronemal growth toward a blue-light source in the mutant was suppressed by application of ent-kaurenoic acid, and the growth was rescued to that in the wild type. Expression analysis of the PpCPS/KS gene showed that the mRNA level under blue light was rapidly increased and was five times higher than under red light. These results suggest that regulators derived from ent-kaurenoic acid are strongly involved not only in the growth regulation of caulonemal differentiation under red light, but also in the light avoidance response of chloronemal growth under blue light. In particular, growth under blue light is regulated via the PpCPS/KS gene.

Momilactones from rice have allelopathic activity, the ability to inhibit growth of competing plants. Transferring momilactone production to other crops is a potential approach to combat weeds, yet a complete momilactone biosynthetic pathway remains elusive. Here, we address this challenge through rapid gene screening in Nicotiana benthamiana , a heterologous plant host. This required us to solve a central problem: diminishing intermediate and product yields remain a bottleneck for multistep diterpene pathways. We increased intermediate and product titers by rerouting diterpene biosynthesis from the chloroplast to the cytosolic, high-flux mevalonate pathway. This enabled the discovery and reconstitution of a complete route to momilactones (>10-fold yield improvement in production versus rice). Pure momilactone B isolated from N. benthamiana inhibited germination and root growth in Arabidopsis thaliana , validating allelopathic activity. We demonstrated the broad utility of this approach by applying it to forskolin, a Hedgehog inhibitor, and taxadiene, an intermediate in taxol biosynthesis (~10-fold improvement in production versus chloroplast expression). Redirecting plant diterpene biosynthesis from the chloroplast to the cytosolic, high-flux mevalonate pathway increases intermediate and product titers to support the elucidation and reconstitution of momilactone biosynthesis.

An acyclic diterpene alcohol, (E,E,E)-geranylgeraniol (GGOH), is one of the important compounds used as perfume and pharmacological agents. A deficiency of squalene (SQ) synthase activity allows yeasts to accumulate an acyclic sesquiterpene alcohol, (E,E)-farnesol, in their cells. Since sterols are essential for the growth of yeasts, a deficiency of SQ synthase activity makes the addition of supplemental sterols to the culture media necessary. To develop a GGOH production method not requiring any supplemental sterols, we overexpressed HMG1 encoding hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase and the genes of two prenyl diphosphate synthases, ERG20 and BTS1, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A prototrophic diploid coexpressing HMG1 and the ERG20-BTS1 fusion accumulated GGOH with neither disruption of the SQ synthase gene nor the addition of any supplemental sterols. The GGOH content on the diploid cultivation in a 5-l jar fermenter reached 138.8 mg/l under optimal conditions.

Specialized plant terpenoids have found fortuitous uses in medicine due to their evolutionary and biochemical selection for biological activity in animals. However, these highly functionalized natural products are produced through complex biosynthetic pathways for which we have a complete understanding in only a few cases. Here we review some of the most effective and promising plant terpenoids that are currently used in medicine and medical research and provide updates on their biosynthesis, natural occurrence, and mechanism of action in the body. This includes pharmacologically useful plastidic terpenoids such as p-menthane monoterpenoids, cannabinoids, paclitaxel (taxol®), and ingenol mebutate which are derived from the 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol-4-phosphate (MEP) pathway, as well as cytosolic terpenoids such as thapsigargin and artemisinin produced through the mevalonate (MVA) pathway. We further provide a review of the MEP and MVA precursor pathways which supply the carbon skeletons for the downstream transformations yielding these medically significant natural products.