title: Identification of a new diterpene biosynthetic gene cluster that produces O-methylkolavelool in Herpetosiphon aurantiacus.
abstract: Diterpenoids are usually found in plants and fungi, but are rare in bacteria. We have previously reported new diterpenes, named tuberculosinol and isotuberculosinol, which are generated from the Mycobacterium tuberculosis gene products Rv3377c and Rv3378c. No homologous gene was found at that time, but we recently found highly homologous proteins in the Herpetosiphon aurantiacus ATCC 23779 genome. Haur_2145 was a class II diterpene cyclase responsible for the conversion of geranylgeranyl diphosphate into kolavenyl diphosphate. Haur_2146, homologous to Rv3378c, synthesized (+)-kolavelool through the nucleophilic addition of a water molecule to the incipient cation formed after the diphosphate moiety was released. Haur_2147 afforded (+)-O-methylkolavelool from (+)-kolavelool, so this enzyme was an O-methyltransferase. This new diterpene was indeed detected in H. aurantiacus cells. This is the first report of the identification of a (+)-O-methylkolavelool biosynthetic gene cluster.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology and Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Niigata University, Niigata 950-2181 (Japan).
authors.forename: Chiaki
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: Misaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oshima
authors.forename: Nodoka
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kurashima
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hoshino
mesh_terms: D041862:Chloroflexi / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004224:Diterpenes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D008780:Methyltransferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D005810:Multigene Family
chemical_list: D004224:Diterpenes; C000604896:O-methylkolavelool; D008780:Methyltransferases
keywords: Herpetosiphon aurantiacus; diterpene cyclases; diterpene synthases; natural products; terpenoids