Journal Article

Genomics and biochemical analyses reveal a metabolon key to β-L-ODAP biosynthesis in Lathyrus sativus

Agrawal, Shiv Kumar, Loose, Matt, Wouters, Roland H. M, Rejzek, Martin, Swarbreck, David, Cheema, Jitender, Jiang, Zhouqian, Njaci, Isaac, Weng, Jing-Ke, Sarkar, Abhimanyu, Steuernagel, Burkhard, Martens, Stefan, Macas, Jiří, Martin, Cathie, Vickers, Martin, Yant, Levi, Kilian, Benjamin, Kim, Colin Y, Moore, Christopher, Higgins, Janet, Vigouroux, Marielle, Paajanen, Pirita, Wang, Trevor L, Novak, Petr, Edwards, Anne, Mundree, Sagadevan, Kaithakottil, Gemy, Moore, Jonathan D, Stevenson, Clare E. M, Emmrich, Peter M. F

2023

Overview

Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) is a rich source of protein cultivated as an insurance crop in Ethiopia, Eritrea, India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Its resilience to both drought and flooding makes it a promising crop for ensuring food security in a changing climate. The lack of genetic resources and the crop’s association with the disease neurolathyrism have limited the cultivation of grass pea. Here, we present an annotated, long read-based assembly of the 6.5 Gbp L. sativus genome. Using this genome sequence, we have elucidated the biosynthetic pathway leading to the formation of the neurotoxin, β-L-oxalyl-2,3-diaminopropionic acid (β-L-ODAP). The final reaction of the pathway depends on an interaction between L. sativus acyl-activating enzyme 3 (LsAAE3) and a BAHD-acyltransferase (LsBOS) that form a metabolon activated by CoA to produce β-L-ODAP. This provides valuable insight into the best approaches for developing varieties which produce substantially less toxin.

• Publisher: Nature Research (part of Springer Nature) (Fully open access journals),Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 45/15 / 45/22 / 45/23 / 45/91 / 631/208/726 / 631/208/8 / 631/449/2667 / 631/45/607/1167 / 82/103 / 82/58 / Acyltransferase / Amino Acids, Diamino - metabolism / Biosynthesis / Climate change / Crops / Cultivars / Drought / Food security / Genetic resources / Genomes / Genomics / Grass peas / Humanities and Social Sciences / Lathyrus - genetics / Lathyrus - metabolism / Lathyrus sativus / multidisciplinary / Neurotoxins / Neurotoxins - metabolism / Nucleotide sequence / Oxalyldiaminopropionic acid / Peas / Plant breeding / Protein sources / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Toxins