title: Plant secondary metabolism linked glycosyltransferases: An update on expanding knowledge and scopes.
abstract: The multigene family of enzymes known as glycosyltransferases or popularly known as GTs catalyze the addition of carbohydrate moiety to a variety of synthetic as well as natural compounds. Glycosylation of plant secondary metabolites is an emerging area of research in drug designing and development. The unsurpassing complexity and diversity among natural products arising due to glycosylation type of alterations including glycodiversification and glycorandomization are emerging as the promising approaches in pharmacological studies. While, some GTs with broad spectrum of substrate specificity are promising candidates for glycoengineering while others with stringent specificity pose limitations in accepting molecules and performing catalysis. With the rising trends in diseases and the efficacy/potential of natural products in their treatment, glycosylation of plant secondary metabolites constitutes a key mechanism in biogeneration of their glycoconjugates possessing medicinal properties. The present review highlights the role of glycosyltransferases in plant secondary metabolism with an overview of their identification strategies, catalytic mechanism and structural studies on plant GTs. Furthermore, the article discusses the biotechnological and biomedical application of GTs ranging from detoxification of xenobiotics and hormone homeostasis to the synthesis of glycoconjugates and crop engineering. The future directions in glycosyltransferase research should focus on the synthesis of bioactive glycoconjugates via metabolic engineering and manipulation of enzyme's active site leading to improved/desirable catalytic properties. The multiple advantages of glycosylation in plant secondary metabolomics highlight the increasing significance of the GTs, and in near future, the enzyme superfamily may serve as promising path for progress in expanding drug targets for pharmacophore discovery and development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Metabolic and Structural Biology, CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), P.O. CIMAP, Lucknow 226015, India.
authors.forename: Pragya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tiwari
authors.affiliation: Department of Metabolic and Structural Biology, CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), P.O. CIMAP, Lucknow 226015, India; Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB), A National Institute under Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, C-127, Phase-8, Industrial Area, S.A.S. Nagar, Mohali 160071, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: Rajender Singh
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Sangwan
authors.affiliation: Department of Metabolic and Structural Biology, CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), P.O. CIMAP, Lucknow 226015, India. Electronic address: nss.cimap@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Neelam S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Sangwan
mesh_terms: D015195:Drug Design; D006001:Glycoconjugates; D016695:Glycosyltransferases; D060847:Metabolic Engineering; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins
chemical_list: D006001:Glycoconjugates; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D016695:Glycosyltransferases
keywords: Catalytic mechanism; Drug designing; Glycoconjugates; Glycosyltransferases; Metabolic engineering; Plant secondary metabolism