title: Structure and functional analysis of a marine bacterial carotenoid biosynthesis gene cluster and astaxanthin biosynthetic pathway proposed at the gene level.
abstract: A carotenoid biosynthesis gene cluster for the production of astaxanthin was isolated from the marine bacterium Agrobacterium aurantiacum. This cluster contained five carotenogenic genes with the same orientation, which were designated crtW, crtZ, crtY, crtI, and crtB. The stop codons of individual crt genes except for crtB overlapped the start codons of the following crt genes. Escherichia coli transformants carrying the Erwinia uredovora carotenoid biosynthesis genes provide suitable substrates for carotenoid biosynthesis. The functions of the five crt genes of A. aurantiacum were determined through chromatographic and spectroscopic analyses of the pigments accumulated in some E. coli transformants carrying various combinations of the E. uredovora and A. aurantiacum carotenogenic genes. As a result, the astaxanthin biosynthetic pathway is proposed for the first time at the level of the biosynthesis genes. The crtW and crtZ gene products, which mediated the oxygenation reactions from beta-carotene to astaxanthin, were found to have low substrate specificity. This allowed the production of many presumed intermediates of astaxanthin, i.e., adonixanthin, phoenicoxanthin (adonirubin), canthaxanthin, 3'-hydroxyechinenone, and 3-hydroxyechinenone.
authors.affiliation: Central Laboratories for Key Technology, Kirin Brewery Co., Ltd., Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Misawa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Satomi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kajiwara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohtani
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Miki
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D003062:Codon / Q000235:genetics; D004885:Erwinia / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics*; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012231:Rhizobium / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D024341:Xanthophylls; D019207:beta Carotene / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D024341:Xanthophylls; D019207:beta Carotene; D002338:Carotenoids; C005948:astaxanthine