Bifunctional triterpene/sesquarterpene cyclase: tetraprenyl-β-curcumene cyclase is also squalene cyclase in Bacillus megaterium

J Am Chem Soc. 2011 Nov 9;133(44):17540-3. doi: 10.1021/ja2060319. Epub 2011 Oct 13.

Abstract

This study demonstrates that a tetraprenyl-β-curcumene cyclase, which was originally identified as a sesquarterpene cyclase that converts a head-to-tail type of monocycle to a pentacycle, also cyclizes a tail-to-tail type of linear squalene into a bicyclic triterpenol, 8α-hydroxypolypoda-13,17,21-triene. The 8α-hydroxypolypoda-13,17,21-triene was found to be a natural triterpene from B. megaterium. It was also demonstrated that cyclizations of both tetraprenyl-β-curcumene and squalene occurred with a purified B. megaterium TC homologue in the same reaction mixture. These results suggest that the tetraprenyl-β-curcumene cyclase is bifunctional, cyclizing both tetraprenyl-β-curcumene and squalene in vivo. This is the first report describing a bifunctional terpene cyclase, which biosynthesizes two classes of cyclic terpenes with different numbers of carbons as natural products in the organism.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacillus megaterium / enzymology*
  • Carbon-Oxygen Lyases / metabolism*
  • Cyclization
  • Molecular Structure
  • Stereoisomerism
  • Terpenes / chemistry
  • Terpenes / metabolism*

Substances

  • Terpenes
  • Carbon-Oxygen Lyases
  • tetraprenyl-beta-curcumene synthase, Bacillus megaterium