细菌中倍半萜生物合成的研究进展

Research progress of bacterial sesquiterpenoid biosynthesis

萜类化合物是一大类小分子天然产物,在生物体内扮演重要的角色。植物和真菌中萜类化合物的生物合成已被广泛研究,但是在真核生物中克隆或改造萜类化合物生物合成途径还有较大难度。许多细菌同样可以产生萜类化合物。在过去十多年间细菌萜类合酶的研究进展为我们对萜类化合物生物合成的理解做出了显著的贡献。这里我们主要关注细菌中合成的倍半萜化合物,概述其化学结构、倍半萜合酶对法尼基焦磷酸环化的机制、后修饰酶特别是氧化还原酶所参与的后修饰、代谢调控以及合成途径中尚未解决的问题等。

Terpenoids are a diverse group of natural products and play important roles in all living organisms. Terpenoid biosynthesis has been extensively studied in plants and fungi. However, cloning and engineering terpenoid pathways in these eukaryotic organisms remain challenging. Terpenoids are also produced by numerous bacteria. The research progress in bacterial terpenoid synthesis for decades made significant contributions to our understanding of terpenoid biosynthesis. Here we will focus on bacterial sesquiterpenoids and briefly review their chemical structures, the mechanisms of farnesyl diphosphate cyclization catalyzed by sesquiterpene cyclases, post modifications of sesquiterpenes by enzymes especially oxidoreductases, metabolic regulations and unsolved problems in biosynthetic pathways.