鲨烯合酶的研究进展

鲨烯合酶 (SqualeneSynthase,EC 2 5 1 2 1 ,简称SQS)是催化两分子的法呢酯焦磷酸 (Farnesyldiphos phate,简称FPP)缩合产生鲨烯 (SQ)的关键酶 ,而鲨烯是生物合成三萜、甾醇、胆固醇等萜烯类重要物质的共同前体[1 ,2 ] 。因此 ,对鲨烯合酶的研究倍受重视 ,迄今人们已对 1 4个不同物种中的鲨烯合酶进行了研究。本文简要综述国内外关于鲨烯合酶研究的进展。1　SQS在萜烯类化合物生物合成中的作用萜烯类化合物生物合成的途径见图 1 [1 ] ,SQS处于代谢途径中FPP到其它产物的分支点上 ,FPP除可以被鲨烯合酶催化产生鲨烯 (SQ)外 ,还…     

天然产物生物合成与抗肿瘤药物合成生物学研究

结构复杂多样的天然产物是现代药物的重要组成部分和新药发现的重要源泉.天然产物的生物合成研究,是从基因和蛋白水平阐明天然产物的合成途径,通过酶催化的化学反应将基因与化合物的结构单元建立一种对应关系,从而理解自然界神奇的化学合成、生物拮抗及生理调控过程.天然产物的合成生物学研究核心是通过在发酵友好、高效的微生物中设计、构建目标化合物的生物合成途径,经系统地调控和优化重组微生物,从而发酵生产来源稀缺的天然产物类药物、前体或新化合物.本文结合相关领域的进展,对本研究组近年来关于抗肿瘤天然产物生物合成及抗癌药物合成生物学的工作进行系统的介绍.     

甲基转移酶在微生物合成天然产物中的应用

甲基转移酶(Methyltransferases,MTs)普遍存在于所有生物有机体中,通常以S-腺苷甲硫氨酸作为甲基供体催化底物的甲基化反应,在基因的表达调控和许多天然化合物的合成中起着至关重要的作用。近年来,在微生物中异源表达MTs以实现一些重要天然产物的生物合成取得了巨大的进步,但迄今为止这方面的研究还没有得到详细和全面的总结。文中综述了MTs在微生物合成苯丙烷类化合物、香料类化合物、激素和抗生素等重要天然产物的最新研究进展,重点阐述了应用代谢工程策略高效合成这些甲基化的天然产物,以及利用MTs拓展天然产物分子多样性的研究进展。最后,探讨了MTs应用于微生物合成天然产物所面临的挑战,并对利用MTs进一步高效生产结构和生物活性多样化的天然产物进行了展望。     

香豆素类化合物功能及生物合成研究进展*

香豆素类化合物是自然界中一类重要的化合物,具有抗肿瘤、抗凝血、抗菌、杀虫等多种生物活性,应用领域广泛。目前大多数香豆素类化合物从植物中提取,受环境因素影响较大,得率低、成本高,不利于大规模生产,从而限制了其应用和推广。利用合成生物学的思路合成香豆素类化合物具有无污染、原料易得、成本低、过程可控等优势。对香豆素类化合物生物合成途径的研究,尤其是靶标天然产物生物合成表达元件、宿主和发酵条件的优化,以及合成途径中关键酶的挖掘,已经成为研究热点。综述香豆素类化合物及其衍生物的结构、功能和生物合成研究进展,为其生物合成路径中的基因挖掘及异源表达提供参考。     

合成生物学与天然产物开发

天然产物依然是临床用药的重要来源。合成生物学的诞生为天然产物的开发提供了全新的机遇,传统的微生物药物、植物天然产物等研究领域都因合成生物学而获得新生。重点介绍了合成生物学在天然产物开发中的应用,包括新化合物及其生物合成元件的筛选,基于理性设计的天然产物异源生物合成,人工底盘细胞的系统优化等。     

抗癌药物榄香烯的生物合成及关键酶吉马烯A合酶的优化

榄香烯是我国拥有自主知识产权的抗肿瘤药物之一,因其抗肿瘤活性强、作用范围广、毒副作用轻微和不易产生耐药性等优点,被广泛应用于各类恶性肿瘤的临床治疗中。榄香烯的生产主要依靠药用植物温郁金的分离提取。但温郁金的榄香烯含量低、分离纯化难度大、得率低且成本高,严重阻碍了榄香烯的大规模生产与应用。随着合成生物学的发展,利用微生物构建细胞工厂用于生物合成天然药物成为研究热点,也为榄香烯的生产提供了新的思路。近年来,对榄香烯的生物合成研究在不断深入。研究者通过代谢工程、组合生物学和基因工程等手段,阐明榄香烯生物合成途径和关键酶,已经成功克隆了榄香烯生物合成途径上的一些关键酶基因,初步实现榄香烯的异源生物合成。本文以合成生物学研究思维概述榄香烯生物合成途径及其工程菌的优化,重点综述关键酶吉马烯A合酶(germacrane A synthase, GAS)。从限速酶基因的过表达和分流基因的敲除,融合表达酶工程策略、吉马烯A合酶的体外进化几方面,对其生物合成途径的改造策略进行阐述。同时,也分析提高异源生物合成榄香烯产量所面临的问题与挑战,为榄香烯的高效生物合成提供参考。     

植物花色苷生物合成酶类的亚细胞组织研究进展

花色苷类化合物是类黄酮合成途径的有色末端产物,其合成需要多种酶类催化完成.花色苷生物合成的相关酶在细胞质中被组织成与膜联系的多酶复合体,该复合体对于花色苷生物合成途径的整个效率、专一性和调节具有重要意义.本文对植物花色苷生物合成相关酶的亚细胞定位、所形成的复合体的模型及其存在问题进行了综述.花色苷生物合成多酶复合体的建立将有助于演绎出一个关于细胞代谢的新“三维观”,可为花色苷生产的代谢工程的理性调控创造更有效的手段.     

紫杉醇生物合成的研究

抗癌新药紫杉醇是具有萜类环状结构的天然次生代谢产物。研究紫杉醇的生物合成对于人为定向地提高合成效率以及克隆重组合成中的关键酶基因,进而提高紫杉醇的合成量,都是十分有意义的基础工作。本文以植物和微生物的次生代谢及其主要代谢途径为知识背景,介绍了紫杉烷类物质的基本结构及其结构骨架的分类情况,综述了近年来围绕紫杉醇二萜骨架和侧链基团的生物合成途径的研究进展,对合成中的影响因素进行了初步的讨论。     

紫杉醇生物合成的研究

抗癌新药紫杉醇是具有萜类环状结构的天然次生代谢产物。研究紫杉醇的生物合成对于人为定向地提高合成效率以及克隆重组合成中的关键酶基因,进而提高紫杉醇的合成量,都是十分有意义的基础工作。本文以植物和微生物的次生代谢及其主要代谢途径为知识背景,介绍了紫杉烷类物质的基本结构及其结构骨架的分类情况,综述了近年来围绕紫杉醇二萜骨架和侧链基团的生物合成途径的研究进展,对合成中的影响因素进行了初步的讨论。     

过表达丹参GGPPS研究丹参酮类的生物合成途径

丹参酮是药用植物丹参(Salvia miltiorrhiza)中具有较强生物活性的脂溶性二萜醌类化合物,是目前国际上广泛认可的有效治疗心脑血管疾病的天然药物之一.本研究通过分析过表达萜类生物合成途径中的牻牛儿基牻牛儿基焦磷酸合酶(GGPPS)的转基因丹参,发现丹参酮类化合物与叶绿素具有共同的上游生物合成途径,而下游途径因组织的特异化而不同,从而生成不同的代谢产物.通过对丹参毛状根外施两个萜类生物合成途径的抑制剂Lovastatin和Fosmidomycin,在处理6周丹参酮积累达到稳定时测定丹参酮的含量,探明了丹参酮类的生物合成主要是通过质体中的MEP途径来完成,而非胞质中的MVA途径.本研究为丹参酮类的代谢生物学及合成生物学研究提供了证据和基础.     

Genetic and metabolic engineering of microorganisms for the development of new flavor compounds from terpenic substrates

Throughout human history, natural products have been the basis for the discovery and development of therapeutics, cosmetic and food compounds used in industry. Many compounds found in natural organisms are rather difficult to chemically synthesize and to extract in large amounts, and in this respect, genetic and metabolic engineering are playing an increasingly important role in the production of these compounds, such as new terpenes and terpenoids, which may potentially be used to create aromas in industry. Terpenes belong to the largest class of natural compounds, are produced by all living organisms and play a fundamental role in human nutrition, cosmetics and medicine. Recent advances in systems biology and synthetic biology are allowing us to perform metabolic engineering at the whole-cell level, thus enabling the optimal design of microorganisms for the efficient production of drugs, cosmetic and food additives. This review describes the recent advances made in the genetic and metabolic engineering of the terpenes pathway with a particular focus on systems biotechnology.     

耐受性工程调控微生物细胞工厂胁迫抗性

微生物细胞工厂的生产效率是由菌株生长性能、产品合成能力和胁迫抗性共同决定的,其中增强微生物细胞工厂的胁迫抗性是关键.耐受性工程基于微生物细胞工厂抵御胁迫压力的应激反应机制,通过巩固壁膜屏障增强胁迫防御能力,加快应激反应提高损伤修复能力,创制耐受进化工具筛选鲁棒性增强的工业微生物.文中分析归纳了耐受性工程的调控策略,并展...     

Redirection of cytosolic or plastidic isoprenoid precursors elevates terpene production in plants

Terpenes constitute a distinct class of natural products that attract insects, defend against phytopathogenic microbes and combat human diseases. However, like most natural products, they are usually made by plants and microbes in small amounts and as complex mixtures. Chemical synthesis is often costly and inefficient, and may not yield enantiomerically pure terpenes, whereas large-scale microbial production requires expensive feedstocks. We engineered high-level terpene production in tobacco plants by diverting carbon flow from cytosolic or plastidic isopentenyl diphosphate through overexpression in either compartment of an avian farnesyl diphosphate synthase and an appropriate terpene synthase. Isotopic labeling studies suggest little, if any, metabolite exchange between these two subcellular compartments. The strategy increased synthesis of the sesquiterpenes patchoulol and amorpha-4,11-diene more than 1,000-fold, as well as the monoterpene limonene 10-30 fold, and seems equally suited to generating higher levels of other terpenes for research, industrial production or therapeutic applications.     

Efficient production of oxidized terpenoids via engineering fusion proteins of terpene synthase and cytochrome P450

The functionalization of terpenes using cytochrome P450 enzymes is a versatile route to the production of useful derivatives that can be further converted to value-added products. Many terpenes are hydrophobic and volatile making their availability as a substrate for P450 enzymes significantly limited during microbial production. In this study, we developed a strategy to improve the accessibility of terpene molecules for the P450 reaction by linking terpene synthase and P450 together. As a model system, fusion proteins of 1,8-cineole synthase (CS) and P450_cin were investigated and it showed an improved hydroxylation of the monoterpenoid 1,8-cineole up to 5.4-fold. Structural analysis of the CS-P450_cin fusion proteins by SEC-SAXS indicated a dimer formation with preferred orientations of the active sites of the two domains. We also applied the enzyme fusion strategy to the oxidation of a sesquiterpene epi-isozizaene and the fusion enzymes significantly improved albaflavenol production in engineered E. coli. From the analysis of positive and negative examples of the fusion strategy, we proposed key factors in structure-based prediction and evaluation of fusion enzymes. Developing fusion enzymes for terpene synthase and P450 presents an efficient strategy toward oxidation of hydrophobic terpene compounds. This strategy could be widely applicable to improve the biosynthetic titer of the functionalized products from hydrophobic terpene intermediates.     

植物多酚的微生物合成

植物多酚属于苯丙烷衍生物,包括酚酸类、茋类、姜黄素类和黄酮类等。它们具有抗氧化、扩血管、抗血凝、抗炎、抗肿瘤、抗病毒等生理药理活性,在医药、食品、化妆品、化工等领域具有巨大的应用市场。微生物具有生长快、培养简单、可工业化等优点,成为异源合成天然产物的重要宿主。近年来,合成生物学的发展促进了植物天然产物的微生物合成,并取得了实质性进展。文中综述了植物多酚代谢途径在工程大肠杆菌、酿酒酵母等微生物中的构建、表达和产物合成现状,讨论了提高产量的前体工程、动态调控、共培养等优化策略,并就未来的多酚途径工程提出展望。     

工业应用导向的蛋白质结构与功能研究进展

在蛋白质工程、绿色生物制造以及合成生物学等研究领域中,对重要催化反应的重塑和合成路径的优化搭建,都依赖于对相关蛋白质结构与功能的深入了解。合成生物技术近年来的飞速发展对关键菌种及生物催化过程中的蛋白质的性能提出了更高要求,相关研究的关键是获得大批量、高纯度目的蛋白,并进行快速、准确的构效关系研究。中国科学院天津工业生物技术研究所建所10年来,在工业蛋白质领域进行了多年的积累,成功搭建成了蛋白质结构生物学平台;并在植物天然产物合成相关萜类合成酶、白色污染降解的聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯(polyethylene terephthalate, PET)塑料降解酶以及生物质转化利用相关酶等方面获得了一些进展,通过对这些蛋白进行结构和功能的研究,为许多研究工作提供了理论依据。蛋白质结构功能研究相关技术的不断发展,将加速合成生物学的学术和工业应用研究,推动我国生物制造领域的科技创新升级。     

微生物合成2-苯乙醇研究进展*

2-苯乙醇(2-PE)是一种具有广阔应用前景的高级芳香醇。由于化学合成的复杂性和天然提取的高昂成本,近年来,利用微生物发酵合成2-PE受到广泛关注。许多微生物有天然合成2-PE的能力,但产量相对较低,并不适合大规模生产。在最近几年的研究中,利用代谢工程和合成生物学技术,通过上调限速酶基因表达水平,改善前体转运,提高 2-PE耐受性等多方面优化,2-PE的微生物产量有了大幅度的提高。综述微生物合成2-PE的相关研究进展,分析关键代谢调控的机制,并就目前存在的问题提出了改进建议。     

Progress in terpene synthesis strategies through engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Terpenes are natural products with a remarkable diversity in their chemical structures and they hold a significant market share commercially owing to their distinct applications. These potential molecules are usually derived from terrestrial plants, marine and microbial sources. In vitro production of terpenes using plant tissue culture and plant metabolic engineering, although receiving some success, the complexity in downstream processing because of the interference of phenolics and product commercialization due to regulations that are significant concerns. Industrial workhorses’ viz., Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae have become microorganisms to produce non-native terpenes in order to address critical issues such as demand-supply imbalance, sustainability and commercial viability. S. cerevisiae enjoys several advantages for synthesizing non-native terpenes with the most significant being the compatibility for expressing cytochrome P450 enzymes from plant origin. Moreover, achievement of high titers such as 40?g/l of amorphadiene, a sesquiterpene, boosts commercial interest and encourages the researchers to envisage both molecular and process strategies for developing yeast cell factories to produce these compounds. This review contains a brief consideration of existing strategies to engineer S. cerevisiae toward the synthesis of terpene molecules. Some of the common targets for synthesis of terpenes in S. cerevisiae are as follows: overexpression of tHMG1, ERG20, upc2-1 in case of all classes of terpenes; repression of ERG9 by replacement of the native promoter with a repressive methionine promoter in case of mono-, di- and sesquiterpenes; overexpression of BTS1 in case of di- and tetraterpenes. Site-directed mutagenesis such as Upc2p (G888A) in case of all classes of terpenes, ERG20p (K197G) in case of monoterpenes, HMG2p (K6R) in case of mono-, di- and sesquiterpenes could be some generic targets. Efforts are made to consolidate various studies (including patents) on this subject to understand the similarities, to identify novel strategies and to contemplate potential possibilities to build a robust yeast cell factory for terpene or terpenoid production. Emphasis is not restricted to metabolic engineering strategies pertaining to sterol and mevalonate pathway, but also other holistic approaches for elsewhere exploitation in the S. cerevisiae genome are discussed. This review also focuses on process considerations and challenges during the mass production of these potential compounds from the engineered strain for commercial exploitation.     

Modern synthetic efforts toward biologically active terpenes

Terpenes represent one of the largest and most diverse classes of secondary metabolites, with over 55,000 members isolated to date. The terpene cyclase enzymes used in nature convert simple, linear hydrocarbon phosphates into an exotic array of chiral, carbocyclic skeletons. Further oxidation and rearrangement results in an almost endless number of conceivable structures. The enormous structural diversity presented by this class of natural products ensures a broad range of biological properties-ranging from anti-cancer and anti-malarial activities to tumor promotion and ion-channel binding. The marked structural differences of terpenes also largely thwart the development of any truly general strategies for their synthetic construction. This review focuses on synthetic strategies directed toward some of the most complex, biologically relevant terpenes prepared by total synthesis within the past decade. Of crucial importance are both the obstacles that modern synthetic chemists must confront when trying to construct such natural products and the key chemical transformations and strategies that have been developed to meet these challenges.