title: Plant diterpene synthases: exploring modularity and metabolic diversity for bioengineering.
abstract: Plants produce thousands of diterpenoid natural products; some of which are of significant industrial value as biobased pharmaceuticals (taxol), fragrances (sclareol), food additives (steviosides), and commodity chemicals (diterpene resin acids). In nature, diterpene synthase (diTPS) enzymes are essential for generating diverse diterpene hydrocarbon scaffolds. While some diTPSs also form oxygenated compounds, more commonly, oxygenation is achieved by cytochrome P450-dependent mono-oxygenases. Recent genome-, transcriptome-, and metabolome-guided gene discovery and enzyme characterization identified novel diTPS functions that form the core of complex modular pathway systems. Insights into diterpene metabolism may translate into the development of new bioengineered microbial and plant-based production systems.
authors.affiliation: University of California at Davis, Plant Biology Department, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zerbe
authors.affiliation: Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, 2185 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada. Electronic address: bohlmann@mail.ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bohlmann
mesh_terms: D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001688:Biological Products / Q000378:metabolism; D004224:Diterpenes / Q000378:metabolism*; D060847:Metabolic Engineering; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010944:Plants / Q000201:enzymology*; D058615:Synthetic Biology
chemical_list: D001688:Biological Products; D004224:Diterpenes; D010940:Plant Proteins; D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases
keywords: diterpene synthase; metabolic engineering; natural product biosynthesis; plant chemical diversity; synthetic biology