Comment on "Substrate Folding Modes in Trichodiene Synthase: A Determinant of Chemo- and Stereoselectivity".

Abstract

Wang et al. recently reported an in silico study of the trichodiene synthase (TDS) conversion of farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) to trichodiene (TD) (Wang et al., ACS Catal. 2017, 7, 5841-5846). Although the methods and level of theory used in that work are nearly identical to our own recent work on this system (Dixit et al., ACS Catal. 2017, 7, 812-818), Wang et al. reach rather different conclusions. The authors claimed to obtain a "very credible" mechanism for the biosynthesis of TD and optimized the optimal folding mode of FPP in the 1,6-ring closure in TDS. However, the folding mode of the FPP substrate that was presented contradicts well-established NMR and mass spectrometry data. Moreover, the authors make numerous incorrect statements regarding our earlier work.