Automatic Identification of Players in the Flavonoid Biosynthesis with Application on the Biomedicinal Plant Croton tiglium.

Boas Pucker,Hanna Marie Schilbert,Franziska Reiher

doi:10.3390/plants9091103

Boas Pucker, Hanna Marie Schilbert + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9091103

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Abstract

The flavonoid biosynthesis is a well-characterised model system for specialised metabolism and transcriptional regulation in plants. Flavonoids have numerous biological functions such as UV protection and pollinator attraction, but also biotechnological potential. Here, we present Knowledge-based Identification of Pathway Enzymes (KIPEs) as an automatic approach for the identification of players in the flavonoid biosynthesis. KIPEs combines comprehensive sequence similarity analyses with the inspection of functionally relevant amino acid residues and domains in subjected peptide sequences. Comprehensive sequence sets of flavonoid biosynthesis enzymes and knowledge about functionally relevant amino acids were collected. As a proof of concept, KIPEs was applied to investigate the flavonoid biosynthesis of the medicinal plant Croton tiglium on the basis of a transcriptome assembly. Enzyme candidates for all steps in the biosynthesis network were identified and matched to previous reports of corresponding metabolites in Croton species.

Highlights

Flavonoids are a group of specialised plant metabolites comprising more than 9000 identified compounds [1] with numerous biological functions [2]
Products of the flavonoid biosynthesis can be assigned to different subgroups, including chalcones, flavones, flavonols, flavandiols, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins (PAs), and aurones [4]
While flavone synthase (FNS) I is frequently absent in flavonoid-producing species outside the Apiaceae, FNS II is more broadly distributed across plants [53]

Summary

Introduction

Flavonoids are a group of specialised plant metabolites comprising more than 9000 identified compounds [1] with numerous biological functions [2]. Flavonoids consist of two aromatic C6-rings and one heterocyclic pyran ring [3]. Products of the flavonoid biosynthesis can be assigned to different subgroups, including chalcones, flavones, flavonols, flavandiols, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins (PAs), and aurones [4]. These subclasses are characterised by different oxidation states [5]. The aglycons are often modified through the addition of various sugars, leading to a huge diversity [6]

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