title: Are Isoursenol and γ-Amyrin Rare Triterpenes in Nature or Simply Overlooked by Usual Analytical Methods?
abstract: Among pentacyclic triterpenes commonly found in plants, γ-amyrin and isoursenol are seldom reported and considered rare in nature. It was hypothesized that these triterpenes are instead routinely overlooked due to inadequate spectral characterization. γ-Amyrin was prepared by HCOOH isomerization of α-amyrin, and isoursenol was isolated from products of a heterologously expressed oxidosqualene cyclase. With precise NMR and GC-MS data, a metabolomics strategy was used to identify isoursenol and γ-amyrin in a wide range of plants.
authors.affiliation: †Biosciences Department and ‡Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: †Biosciences Department and ‡Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
authors.forename: William K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: †Biosciences Department and ‡Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
authors.forename: Dorianne A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.affiliation: †Biosciences Department and ‡Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
authors.forename: Seiichi P T
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Matsuda
mesh_terms: D019751:Intramolecular Transferases / Q000378:metabolism; D015394:Molecular Structure; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D009828:Oleanolic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D053978:Pentacyclic Triterpenes / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D053978:Pentacyclic Triterpenes; C000603264:isoursenol; D009828:Oleanolic Acid; D019751:Intramolecular Transferases; C021924:lanosterol synthase; C036380:beta-amyrin