Discovery of a plant-like tridomain bifunctional syn-abieta-7,13-diene synthase in Streptomyces

Org Biomol Chem. 2025 Nov 5;23(43):9845-9850. doi: 10.1039/d5ob00724k.

Abstract

Bacteria have been long proposed to harbor ancestral forms of the bifunctional terpene synthases found in plants. Recent studies described the first identification of these fused bacterial diterpene cyclases/synthases (DCSs). Using genome mining, we found candidate proteins in bacteria that were bioinformatically identified to possess both classes of terpene synthase domains. Here, we report the discovery of a plant-like tridomain bifunctional DCS from Streptomyces albulus. A diterpene overproduction system in E. coli enabled the isolation and structural elucidation of syn-abieta-7,13-diene by NMR, GC-MS, and VCD.

MeSH terms

  • Alkyl and Aryl Transferases* / chemistry
  • Alkyl and Aryl Transferases* / genetics
  • Alkyl and Aryl Transferases* / metabolism
  • Diterpenes* / chemistry
  • Diterpenes* / metabolism
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Streptomyces* / enzymology

Substances

  • Alkyl and Aryl Transferases
  • Diterpenes
  • terpene synthase