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Plant Metabolic Engineering of High Value Bioactive Products
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Plant Metabolic Engineering of High Value Bioactive Products

A special issue of Genes (ISSN 2073-4425). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Genetics and Genomics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2018) | Viewed by 33238

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Birger Lindberg Møller

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Guest Editor
Plant Biochemistry Laboratory and Center for Synthetic Biology, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
Interests: plant synthetic biology; specialized metabolites; cyanogenic glucosides; diterpenoids; phenylpropanoids; biosynthetic complexes; metabolons
Dr. Tomas Laursen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dynamic Metabolons Research Group, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, 1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
Interests: specialized metabolism; metabolic channeling; dynamic metabolons; flavonoids; cyanogenic glucosides
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Specialized metabolites in plants play a key role in the ability of plants to adapt to biotic and abiotic environmental stresses, and constitute a treasure trove of small molecules that are used by humans, e.g., to improve health and as condiments, pigments and low calorie natural sweeteners in foods. They are an integrated part of daily life. The approaches of synthetic biology may be used to widen the access to these valuable constituents by offering more direct and sustainable production systems. Development of contained production in green heterologous hosts like green algae, cyanobacteria and mosses requires detailed knowledge of the genes and enzymes involved in their formation, understanding of the organization of the enzymes in efficient metabolic modules to configure metabolic highways and development of technologies for environmental benign of isolation of the product formed. Monooxygenases and associated electron donating redox proteins are some of the key enzymes involved in obtaining the diversity of specialized metabolites in plants. Plants and other photosynthetic organisms have the unique ability to convert solar energy into reducing equivalents and to utilize carbon dioxide from the air as their sole carbon source. Improved photosynthesis and direct coupling of the reducing power of photosystem I to enzyme modules catalyzing formation of specialized metabolites would facilitate channeling of sunlight towards production of high value chemically complex compounds. The modular nature of the biosynthetic pathways provides an option to use a combinatorial approach to direct and optimize the production of known and new-to-nature compounds. Hence, synthetic biology is emerging as a novel approach to design and engineer biological modules with desired functional properties.

We cordially invite researchers working actively within these fields to submit their original research or review manuscripts to this Special Issue on “Plant Metabolic Engineering of High Value Bioactive Products”.

Prof. Birger Lindberg Møller
Dr. Tomas Laursen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Synthetic biology
  • Specialized metabolites
  • Biosynthetic modules
  • Isolation of enzyme complexes
  • Metabolic engineering
  • Metabolic highways
  • Pathway flux analyses
  • Storage and possible involvement of biomolecular condensates
  • Photosynthesis
  • Light harvesting complexes
  • Reaction centers
  • Environmental benign isolation procedures
  • Plants
  • Cyanobacteria
  • Algae
  • Moss
  • Cytochromes P450
  • Oxidoreductases

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 3425 KiB  
Article
Cloning and Functional Verification of Genes Related to 2-Phenylethanol Biosynthesis in Rosa rugosa
by Lixia Sheng, Yuqian Zeng, Tiantian Wei, Min Zhu, Xuemin Fang, Xiaoyu Yuan, Yunjian Luo and Liguo Feng
Genes 2018, 9(12), 576; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes9120576 - 26 Nov 2018
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4145
Abstract
In China, Rosa rugosa is cultivated as a source of natural perfumes. Rose essential oil is known as “liquid gold”, given its high economic and health value. 2-phenylethanol accounts for more than 10% of the total mass fraction of the essential oil derived [...] Read more.
In China, Rosa rugosa is cultivated as a source of natural perfumes. Rose essential oil is known as “liquid gold”, given its high economic and health value. 2-phenylethanol accounts for more than 10% of the total mass fraction of the essential oil derived from R. rugosa. The regulatory mechanisms underlying 2-phenylethanol metabolism in R. rugosa, however, remain unclear. In this study, RrAAAT and RrPPDC1, two genes related to 2-phenylethanol synthesis, were cloned from R. rugosa. Expression analysis revealed that RrAAAT and RrPPDC1 were highly expressed in rose flowers in the full opening and withering stages, and in calyxes. The overexpression vectors of RrAADC, RrAAAT, and RrPPDC1 were established and transformed into Petunia hybrida via Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation. Results demonstrated that the overexpression of RrAADC and RrAAAT increased the 2-phenylethanol content of transgenic petunia flowers. The results of this study provide a basis for the introduction of genes related to 2-phenylethanol synthesis into roses to increase the 2-phenylethanol content of rose essential oil. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Metabolic Engineering of High Value Bioactive Products)
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15 pages, 2481 KiB  
Article
Transcriptome-Wide Identification of an Aurone Glycosyltransferase with Glycosidase Activity from Ornithogalum saundersiae
by Shuai Yuan, Ming Liu, Yan Yang, Jiu-Ming He, Ya-Nan Wang and Jian-Qiang Kong
Genes 2018, 9(7), 327; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes9070327 - 28 Jun 2018
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3273
Abstract
Aurone glycosides display a variety of biological activities. However, reports about glycosyltransferases (GTs) responsible for aurones glycosylation are limited. Here, the transcriptome-wide discovery and identification of an aurone glycosyltransferase with glycosidase activity is reported. Specifically, a complementary DNA (cDNA), designated as OsUGT1, was [...] Read more.
Aurone glycosides display a variety of biological activities. However, reports about glycosyltransferases (GTs) responsible for aurones glycosylation are limited. Here, the transcriptome-wide discovery and identification of an aurone glycosyltransferase with glycosidase activity is reported. Specifically, a complementary DNA (cDNA), designated as OsUGT1, was isolated from the plant Ornithogalum saundersiae based on transcriptome mining. Conserved domain (CD)-search speculated OsUGT1 as a flavonoid GT. Phylogenetically, OsUGT1 is clustered as the same phylogenetic group with a putative 5,6-dihydroxyindoline-2-carboxylic acid (cyclo-DOPA) 5-O-glucosyltransferase, suggesting OsUGT1 may be an aurone glycosyltransferase. The purified OsUGT1 was therefore used as a biocatalyst to incubate with the representative aurone sulfuretin. In vitro enzymatic analyses showed that OsUGT1 was able to catalyze sulfuretin to form corresponding monoglycosides, suggesting OsUGT1 was indeed an aurone glycosyltransferase. OsUGT1 was observed to be a flavonoid GT, specific for flavonoid substrates. Moreover, OsUGT1 was demonstrated to display transglucosylation activity, transferring glucosyl group to sulfuretin via o-Nitrophenyl-β-d-glucopyranoside (oNP-β-Glc)-dependent fashion. In addition, OsUGT1-catalyzed hydrolysis was observed. This multifunctionality of OcUGT1 will broaden the application of OcUGT1 in glycosylation of aurones and other flavonoids. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Metabolic Engineering of High Value Bioactive Products)
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Review

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22 pages, 1822 KiB  
Review
Production of Plant Secondary Metabolites: Examples, Tips and Suggestions for Biotechnologists
by Gea Guerriero, Roberto Berni, J. Armando Muñoz-Sanchez, Fabio Apone, Eslam M. Abdel-Salam, Ahmad A. Qahtan, Abdulrahman A. Alatar, Claudio Cantini, Giampiero Cai, Jean-Francois Hausman, Khawar Sohail Siddiqui, S. M. Teresa Hernández-Sotomayor and Mohammad Faisal
Genes 2018, 9(6), 309; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes9060309 - 20 Jun 2018
Cited by 220 | Viewed by 25356
Abstract
Plants are sessile organisms and, in order to defend themselves against exogenous (a)biotic constraints, they synthesize an array of secondary metabolites which have important physiological and ecological effects. Plant secondary metabolites can be classified into four major classes: terpenoids, phenolic compounds, alkaloids and [...] Read more.
Plants are sessile organisms and, in order to defend themselves against exogenous (a)biotic constraints, they synthesize an array of secondary metabolites which have important physiological and ecological effects. Plant secondary metabolites can be classified into four major classes: terpenoids, phenolic compounds, alkaloids and sulphur-containing compounds. These phytochemicals can be antimicrobial, act as attractants/repellents, or as deterrents against herbivores. The synthesis of such a rich variety of phytochemicals is also observed in undifferentiated plant cells under laboratory conditions and can be further induced with elicitors or by feeding precursors. In this review, we discuss the recent literature on the production of representatives of three plant secondary metabolite classes: artemisinin (a sesquiterpene), lignans (phenolic compounds) and caffeine (an alkaloid). Their respective production in well-known plants, i.e., Artemisia, Coffea arabica L., as well as neglected species, like the fibre-producing plant Urtica dioica L., will be surveyed. The production of artemisinin and caffeine in heterologous hosts will also be discussed. Additionally, metabolic engineering strategies to increase the bioactivity and stability of plant secondary metabolites will be surveyed, by focusing on glycosyltransferases (GTs). We end our review by proposing strategies to enhance the production of plant secondary metabolites in cell cultures by inducing cell wall modifications with chemicals/drugs, or with altered concentrations of the micronutrient boron and the quasi-essential element silicon. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Metabolic Engineering of High Value Bioactive Products)
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