Salidroside is a bioactive tyrosine-derived phenolic natural product found in medicinal plants under the Rhodiola genus. In addition to their anti-fatigue and anti-anoxia roles in traditional medicine, Rhodiola total extract and salidroside have also displayed medicinal properties as anti-cardiovascular diseases and anti-cancer agents. The resulting surge in global demand of Rhodiola plants and salidroside has driven some species close to extinction. Here, we report the full elucidation of the Rhodiola salidroside biosynthetic pathway utilizing the first comprehensive transcriptomics and metabolomics datasets for Rhodiola rosea. Unlike the previously proposed pathway involving separate decarboxylation and deamination enzymatic steps from tyrosine to the key intermediate 4-hydroxyphenylacetaldehyde (4-HPAA), Rhodiola contains a pyridoxal phosphate-dependent 4-HPAA synthase that directly converts tyrosine to 4-HPAA. We further identified genes encoding the subsequent 4-HPAA reductase and tyrosol:UDP-glucose 8-O-glucosyltransferase, respectively, to complete salidroside biosynthesis in Rhodiola. We show that heterologous production of salidroside can be achieved in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as well as the plant Nicotiana benthamiana through transgenic expression of Rhodiola salidroside biosynthetic genes. This study provides new tools for engineering sustainable production of salidroside in heterologous hosts.

Salicylic acid (SA) is an important phytohormone mediating both local and systemic defense responses in plants. Despite over half a century of research, how plants biosynthesize SA remains unresolved. In Arabidopsis, a major part of SA is derived from isochorismate, a key intermediate produced by the isochorismate synthase, which is reminiscent of SA biosynthesis in bacteria. Whereas bacteria employ an isochorismate pyruvate lyase (IPL) that catalyzes the turnover of isochorismate to pyruvate and SA, plants do not contain an IPL ortholog and generate SA from isochorismate through an unknown mechanism. Combining genetic and biochemical approaches, we delineated the SA biosynthetic pathway downstream of isochorismate in Arabidopsis. We found that PBS3, a GH3 acyl adenylase-family enzyme important for SA accumulation, catalyzes ATP-and Mg 2+ -dependent conjugation of L-glutamate primarily to the 8-carboxyl of isochorismate and yields the key SA biosynthetic intermediate, isochorismoyl-glutamate A. Moreover, we discovered that EPS1, a BAHD acyltransferase-family protein with a previously implicated role in SA accumulation upon pathogen attack, harbors a noncanonical active site and an unprecedented isochorismoyl-glutamate A pyruvoylglutamate lyase activity that produces SA from the isochorismoyl-glutamate A substrate. Together, PBS3 and EPS1 form a two-step metabolic pathway to produce SA from isochorismate in Arabidopsis, which is distinct from how SA is biosynthesized in bacteria. This study closes a major knowledge gap in plant SA metabolism and would help develop new strategies for engineering disease resistance in crop plants.

Background: Plant arylalkylamine and aldehyde synthesizing aromatic amino acid decarboxylases (AAAD) are effectively indistinguishable. Results: Mutagenesis of a single AAAD residue enables the interconversion of activities. Conclusion: A single residue is primarily responsible for differentiating plant AAAD decarboxylase and aldehyde synthase activities. Significance: AAAD activity differentiation enables primary sequence activity identification, generation of unusual AAAD enzyme products, and AAAD mechanistic insights.

Salicylic acid (SA) is an important phytohormone mediating both local and systemic defense responses in plants. Despite over half a century of research, how plants biosynthesize SA remains unresolved. In Arabidopsis, a major part of SA is derived from isochorismate, a key intermediate produced by the isochorismate synthase (ICS), which is reminiscent of SA biosynthesis in bacteria. Whereas bacteria employ an isochorismate pyruvate lyase (IPL) that catalyzes the turnover of isochorismate to pyruvate and SA, plants do not contain an IPL ortholog and generate SA from isochorismate through an unknown mechanism. Combining genetic and biochemical approaches, we delineated the SA biosynthetic pathway downstream of isochorismate in Arabidopsis. We show that PBS3, a GH3 acyl adenylase-family enzyme important for SA accumulation, catalyzes ATP-and Mg 2+ -dependent conjugation of L-glutamate primarily to the 8-carboxyl of isochorismate and yields the key SA biosynthetic intermediate isochorismoyl-glutamate A. Moreover, EPS1, a BAHD acyltransferase-family protein with previously implicated role in SA accumulation upon pathogen attack, harbors a noncanonical active site and an unprecedented isochorismoyl-glutamate A pyruvoyl-glutamate lyase (IPGL) activity that produces SA from the isochorismoyl-glutamate A substrate. Together, PBS3 and EPS1 form a two-step metabolic pathway to produce SA from isochorismate in Arabidopsis, which is distinct from how SA is biosynthesized in bacteria. This study closes a major knowledge gap in plant SA metabolism and would help develop new strategies for engineering disease resistance in crop plants.

For millennia, humans have used plants for medicinal purposes. However, our limited understanding of plant biochemistry hinders the translation of such ancient wisdom into modern pharmaceuticals 1. Kava (Piper methysticum) is a medicinal plant native to the Polynesian islands with anxiolytic and analgesic properties supported by over 3,000 years of traditional use as well as numerous recent clinical trials 2-5. The main psychoactive principles of kava, kavalactones, are a unique class of polyketide natural products known to interact with central nervous system through mechanisms distinct from those of the prescription psychiatric drugs benzodiazepines and opioids 6,7. Here we report de novo elucidation of the biosynthetic pathway of kavalactones, consisting of seven specialized metabolic enzymes. Based on phylogenetic and crystallographic analyses, we highlight the emergence of two paralogous styrylpyrone synthases, both of which have neofunctionalized from an ancestral chalcone synthase to catalyze the formation of the kavalactone scaffold. Structurally diverse kavalactones are then biosynthesized by subsequent regio-and stereo-specific tailoring enzymes. We demonstrate the feasibility of engineering heterologous production of kavalactones and their derivatives in bacterial, yeast, and plant hosts, thus opening an avenue towards the development of new psychiatric therapeutics for anxiety disorders, which affect over 260 million people globally 8 .

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Radiation of the plant pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP)-dependent aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase (AAAD) family has yielded an array of paralogous enzymes exhibiting divergent substrate preferences and catalytic mechanisms. Plant AAADs catalyze either the decarboxylation or decarboxylation-dependent oxidative deamination of aromatic l-amino acids to produce aromatic monoamines or aromatic acetaldehydes, respectively. These compounds serve as key precursors for the biosynthesis of several important classes of plant natural products, including indole alkaloids, benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, hydroxycinnamic acid amides, phenylacetaldehyde-derived floral volatiles, and tyrosol derivatives. Here, we present the crystal structures of four functionally distinct plant AAAD paralogs. Through structural and functional analyses, we identify variable structural features of the substrate-binding pocket that underlie the divergent evolution of substrate selectivity toward indole, phenyl, or hydroxyphenyl amino acids in plant AAADs. Moreover, we describe two mechanistic classes of independently arising mutations in AAAD paralogs leading to the convergent evolution of the derived aldehyde synthase activity. Applying knowledge learned from this study, we successfully engineered a shortened benzylisoquinoline alkaloid pathway to produce (S)-norcoclaurine in yeast. This work highlights the pliability of the AAAD fold that allows change of substrate selectivity and access to alternative catalytic mechanisms with only a few mutations.