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Rates ADB, Cesarino I. Pour some sugar on me: The diverse functions of phenylpropanoid glycosylation. J Plant Physiol 2023; 291:154138. [PMID: 38006622 DOI: 10.1016/j.jplph.2023.154138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/27/2023]
Abstract
The phenylpropanoid metabolism is the source of a vast array of specialized metabolites that play diverse functions in plant growth and development and contribute to all aspects of plant interactions with their surrounding environment. These compounds protect plants from damaging ultraviolet radiation and reactive oxygen species, provide mechanical support for the plants to stand upright, and mediate plant-plant and plant-microorganism communications. The enormous metabolic diversity of phenylpropanoids is further expanded by chemical modifications known as "decorative reactions", including hydroxylation, methylation, glycosylation, and acylation. Among these modifications, glycosylation is the major driving force of phenylpropanoid structural diversification, also contributing to the expansion of their properties. Phenylpropanoid glycosylation is catalyzed by regioselective uridine diphosphate (UDP)-dependent glycosyltransferases (UGTs), whereas glycosyl hydrolases known as β-glucosidases are the major players in deglycosylation. In this article, we review how the glycosylation process affects key physicochemical properties of phenylpropanoids, such as molecular stability and solubility, as well as metabolite compartmentalization/storage and biological activity/toxicity. We also summarize the recent knowledge on the functional implications of glycosylation of different classes of phenylpropanoid compounds. A balance of glycosylation/deglycosylation might represent an essential molecular mechanism to regulate phenylpropanoid homeostasis, allowing plants to dynamically respond to diverse environmental signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arthur de Barros Rates
- Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão 277, 05508-090, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Igor Cesarino
- Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão 277, 05508-090, São Paulo, Brazil; Synthetic and Systems Biology Center, InovaUSP, Avenida Professor Lucio Martins Rodrigues 370, 05508-020, São Paulo, Brazil.
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Sun G, Liao J, Kurze E, Hoffmann TD, Steinchen W, McGraphery K, Habegger R, Marek L, Catici DAM, Ludwig C, Jing T, Hoffmann T, Song C, Schwab W. Apocarotenoids are allosteric effectors of a dimeric plant glycosyltransferase involved in defense and lignin formation. New Phytol 2023; 238:2080-2098. [PMID: 36908092 DOI: 10.1111/nph.18875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Accepted: 03/02/2023] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Glycosyltransferases are nature's versatile tools to tailor the functionalities of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and small molecules by transferring sugars. Prominent substrates are hydroxycoumarins such as scopoletin, which serve as natural plant protection agents. Similarly, C13-apocarotenoids, which are oxidative degradation products of carotenoids/xanthophylls, protect plants by repelling pests and attracting pest predators. We show that C13-apocarotenoids interact with the plant glycosyltransferase NbUGT72AY1 and induce conformational changes in the enzyme catalytic center ultimately reducing its inherent UDP-α-d-glucose glucohydrolase activity and increasing its catalytic activity for productive hydroxycoumarin substrates. By contrast, C13-apocarotenoids show no effect on the catalytic activity toward monolignol lignin precursors, which are competitive substrates. In vivo studies in tobacco plants (Nicotiana benthamiana) confirmed increased glycosylation activity upon apocarotenoid supplementation. Thus, hydroxycoumarins and apocarotenoids represent specialized damage-associated molecular patterns, as they each provide precise information about the plant compartments damaged by pathogen attack. The molecular basis for the C13-apocarotenoid-mediated interplay of two plant protective mechanisms and their function as allosteric enhancers opens up potential applications of the natural products in agriculture and pharmaceutical industry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guangxin Sun
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354, Freising, Germany
| | - Jieren Liao
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354, Freising, Germany
| | - Elisabeth Kurze
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354, Freising, Germany
| | - Timothy D Hoffmann
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354, Freising, Germany
| | - Wieland Steinchen
- Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO) & Faculty of Chemistry, Philipps-University Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Straße 14, 35043, Marburg, Germany
| | - Kate McGraphery
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354, Freising, Germany
| | - Ruth Habegger
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354, Freising, Germany
| | - Ludwig Marek
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354, Freising, Germany
| | - Dragana A M Catici
- Center for Protein Assemblies (CPA), Technical University of Munich, Ernst-Otto-Fischer-Str. 8, 85748, Garching, Germany
| | - Christina Ludwig
- Bavarian Center for Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry (BayBioMS), School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Gregor-Mendel-Str. 4, 85354, Freising, Germany
| | - Tingting Jing
- State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization, International Joint Laboratory on Tea Chemistry and Health Effects, Anhui Agricultural University, 230036, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Thomas Hoffmann
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354, Freising, Germany
| | - Chuankui Song
- State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization, International Joint Laboratory on Tea Chemistry and Health Effects, Anhui Agricultural University, 230036, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Wilfried Schwab
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354, Freising, Germany
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Liao J, Lederer V, Bardhi A, Zou Z, Hoffmann TD, Sun G, Song C, Hoffmann T, Schwab W. Acceptors and Effectors Alter Substrate Inhibition Kinetics of a Plant Glucosyltransferase NbUGT72AY1 and Its Mutants. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24119542. [PMID: 37298492 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24119542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2023] [Revised: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023] Open
Abstract
One of the main obstacles in biocatalysis is the substrate inhibition (SI) of enzymes that play important roles in biosynthesis and metabolic regulation in organisms. The promiscuous glycosyltransferase UGT72AY1 from Nicotiana benthamiana is strongly substrate-inhibited by hydroxycoumarins (inhibitory constant Ki < 20 µM), but only weakly inhibited when monolignols are glucosylated (Ki > 1000 µM). Apocarotenoid effectors reduce the inherent UDP-glucose glucohydrolase activity of the enzyme and attenuate the SI by scopoletin derivatives, which could also be achieved by mutations. Here, we studied the kinetic profiles of different phenols and used the substrate analog vanillin, which has shown atypical Michaelis-Menten kinetics in previous studies, to examine the effects of different ligands and mutations on the SI of NbUGT72AY1. Coumarins had no effect on enzymatic activity, whereas apocarotenoids and fatty acids strongly affected SI kinetics by increasing the inhibition constant Ki. Only the F87I mutant and a chimeric version of the enzyme showed weak SI with the substrate vanillin, but all mutants exhibited mild SI when sinapaldehyde was used as an acceptor. In contrast, stearic acid reduced the transferase activity of the mutants to varying degrees. The results not only confirm the multi-substrate functionality of NbUGT72AY1, but also reveal that the enzymatic activity of this protein can be fine-tuned by external metabolites such as apocarotenoids and fatty acids that affect SI. Since these signals are generated during plant cell destruction, NbUGT72AY1 likely plays an important role in plant defense by participating in the production of lignin in the cell wall and providing direct protection through the formation of toxic phytoalexins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jieren Liao
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Veronika Lederer
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Alba Bardhi
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Zhiwei Zou
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Timothy D Hoffmann
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Guangxin Sun
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Chuankui Song
- State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization, International Joint Laboratory on Tea Chemistry and Health Effects, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
| | - Thomas Hoffmann
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Wilfried Schwab
- Biotechnology of Natural Products, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 1, 85354 Freising, Germany
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