Nature Communications (Aug 2017)

A three enzyme system to generate the Strychnos alkaloid scaffold from a central biosynthetic intermediate

  • Evangelos C. Tatsis,
  • Inês Carqueijeiro,
  • Thomas Dugé de Bernonville,
  • Jakob Franke,
  • Thu-Thuy T. Dang,
  • Audrey Oudin,
  • Arnaud Lanoue,
  • Florent Lafontaine,
  • Anna K. Stavrinides,
  • Marc Clastre,
  • Vincent Courdavault,
  • Sarah E. O’Connor

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00154-x
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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The biosynthetic pathway of preakuammicine, a monoterpene precursor of the anti-cancer agent vinblastine, has remained largely unexplored. Here, the authors provide transcriptomic and biochemical data to identify two enzymes that, in tandem, convert strictosidine to akuammicine, the stable shunt product of preakuammicine.