title: Alkylating enzymes.
abstract: Chemospecific and regiospecific modifications of natural products by methyl, prenyl, or C-glycosyl moieties are a challenging and cumbersome task in organic synthesis. Because of the availability of an increasing number of stable and selective transferases and cofactor regeneration processes, enzyme-assisted strategies turn out to be promising alternatives to classical synthesis. Two categories of alkylating enzymes become increasingly relevant for applications: firstly prenyltransferases and terpene synthases (including terpene cyclases), which are used in the production of terpenoids such as artemisinin, or meroterpenoids like alkylated phenolics and indoles, and secondly methyltransferases, which modify flavonoids and alkaloids to yield products with a specific methylation pattern such as 7-O-methylaromadendrin and scopolamine.
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Weinberg 3, D-06120 Halle, Germany. wessjohann@ipb-halle.de
authors.forename: Ludger A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Wessjohann
authors.forename: Jeanette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keim
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weigel
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dippe
mesh_terms: D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000478:Alkylation; D008780:Methyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D010944:Plants / Q000201:enzymology
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D008780:Methyltransferases; D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases