title: Molecular regulation of santalol biosynthesis in Santalum album L.
abstract: Santalum album L. commonly known as East-Indian sandal or chandan is a hemiparasitic tree of family santalaceae. Santalol is a bioprospecting molecule present in sandalwood and any effort towards metabolic engineering of this important moiety would require knowledge on gene regulation. Santalol is a sesquiterpene synthesized through mevalonate or non-mevalonate pathways. First step of santalol biosynthesis involves head to tail condensation of isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) with its allylic co-substrate dimethyl allyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP) to produce geranyl pyrophosphate (GPP; C10 - a monoterpene). GPP upon one additional condensation with IPP produces farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP; C15 - an open chain sesquiterpene). Both the reactions are catalyzed by farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FDS). Santalene synthase (SS), a terpene cyclase catalyzes cyclization of open ring FPP into a mixture of cyclic sesquiterpenes such as α-santalene, epi-β-santalene, β-santalene and exo bergamotene, the main constituents of sandal oil. The objective of the present work was to generate a comprehensive knowledge on the genes involved in santalol production and study their molecular regulation. To achieve this, sequences encoding farnesyl diphosphate synthase and santalene synthase were isolated from sandalwood using suppression subtraction hybridization and 2D gel electrophoresis technology. Functional characterization of both the genes was done through enzyme assays and tissue-specific expression of both the genes was studied. To our knowledge, this is the first report on studies on molecular regulation, and tissue-specific expression of the genes involved in santalol biosynthesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Vittal Mallya Scientific Research Foundation, Bangalore 560076, India.
authors.forename: Arti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rani
authors.forename: Puja
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ravikumar
authors.forename: Manjunatha Damodara
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kush
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002384:Catalysis; D017931:DNA Primers; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D000081223:Polycyclic Sesquiterpenes; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D032123:Santalum / Q000378:metabolism*; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000378:metabolism*; D013382:Subtraction Technique
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D000081223:Polycyclic Sesquiterpenes; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; C043206:santalol
keywords: Complementary DNA; DMAPP; Dimethyl allyl pyrophosphate; FDS; FPP; Farnesyl diphosphate synthase; Farnesyl pyrophosphate; GPP; Geranyl pyrophosphate; IPP; Isopentenyl pyrophosphate; RACE; Rapid amplification of cDNA ends; SS; SSH; Sa; Santalene synthase; Santalol; Santalum album; Sesquiterpenes; Suppression subtraction hybridization; cDNA