Plant lanosterol synthase: divergence of the sterol and triterpene biosynthetic pathways in eukaryotes.
Sterols, essential eukaryotic constituents, are biosynthesized through either cyclic triterpenes, lanosterol (fungi and animals) or cycloartenol (plants). The cDNA for OSC7 of Lotus japonicus was shown to encode lanosterol synthase (LAS) by the complementation of a LAS-deficient mutant yeast and structural identification of the accumulated lanosterol. A double site-directed mutant of OSC7, in which amino acid residues crucial for the reaction specificity were changed to the cycloartenol synthase (CAS) type, produced parkeol and cycloartenol. The multiple amino acid sequence alignment of a conserved region suggests that the LAS of different eukaryotic lineages emerged from the ancestral CAS by convergent evolution.
Department of Applied Biological Sciences, Nihon University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 252-8510 Japan.
Satoru
S
Sawai
Tomoyoshi
T
Akashi
Nozomu
N
Sakurai
Hideyuki
H
Suzuki
Daisuke
D
Shibata
Shin-Ichi
S
Ayabe
Toshio
T
Aoki
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D019751:Intramolecular Transferases / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D007810:Lanosterol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D000070116:Lotus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D010840:Phytosterols / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D014315:Triterpenes / Q000378:metabolism*
D018744:DNA, Plant; D010840:Phytosterols; D014315:Triterpenes; D007810:Lanosterol; C093882:parkeol; D019751:Intramolecular Transferases; C021924:lanosterol synthase; C021923:cycloartenol synthase; C100089:cycloartenol