title: Cloning and characterization of isoprenyl diphosphate synthases with farnesyl diphosphate and geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase activity from Norway spruce (Picea abies) and their relation to induced oleoresin formation.
abstract: The conifer Picea abies (Norway spruce) employs terpenoid-based oleoresins as part of its constitutive and induced defense responses to herbivores and pathogens. The isoprenyl diphosphate synthases are branch-point enzymes of terpenoid biosynthesis leading to the various terpene classes. We isolated three genes encoding isoprenyl diphosphate synthases from P. abies cDNA libraries prepared from the bark and wood of methyl jasmonate-treated saplings and screened via a homology-based PCR approach using degenerate primers. Enzyme assays of the purified recombinant proteins expressed in Escherichia coli demonstrated that one gene (PaIDS 4) encodes a farnesyl diphosphate synthase and the other two (PaIDS 5 and PaIDS 6) encode geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthases. The sequences have moderate similarity to those of farnesyl diphosphate and geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthases already known from plants, and the kinetic properties of the enzymes are not unlike those of other isoprenyl diphosphate synthases. Of the three genes, only PaIDS 5 displayed a significant increase in transcript level in response to methyl jasmonate spraying, suggesting its involvement in induced oleoresin biosynthesis.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Department of Biochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Str. 8, D-07745 Jena, Germany. aschmidt@ice.mpg.de
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gershenzon
mesh_terms: D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004224:Diterpenes; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D028222:Picea / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011106:Polyisoprenyl Phosphates / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D017368:Protein Prenylation; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012717:Sesquiterpenes
chemical_list: D004224:Diterpenes; D010936:Plant Extracts; D011106:Polyisoprenyl Phosphates; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; C018620:oleoresins; C004808:farnesyl pyrophosphate; D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases; C002963:geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate