pUGTdb:A comprehensive database of plant UDP-dependent glycosyltransferases

Dear Editor,Plant UDP-dependent glycosyltransferases(UGTs),belonging to the carbohydrate-active enzyme glycosyltransferase 1 family(Louveau and Osbourn,2019),not only play important roles in adaptation to various environments(Cai et al.,2020;Pastorczyk-Szlenkier and Bednarek,2021)but also endow plant natural products with great pharmaceutical and ecological significance(Margolin et al.,2020).In recent years,an increasing number of plant UGTs have been characterized to function in the biosynthesis of many bioactive compounds such as ginsenosides(Wei et al.,2015),breviscapine(Liu et al.,2018),and rubusoside(Xu et al.,2022).

Origin and evolution of the main starch biosynthetic enzymes

Starch,a semi-crystalline energy storage form primarily found in plant plastids plays a crucial role in various food or no-food applications.Despite the starch biosynthetic pathway’s main enzymes have been characterized,their origin and evolution remained a subject of debate.In this study,we conducted the comprehensive phylogenetic and structural analysis of three types of starch biosynthetic enzymes:starch synthase(SS),starch branching enzyme(SBE)and isoamylase-type debranching enzyme(ISA)from 51,151 annotated genomes.Our findings provide valuable insights into the possible scenario for the origin and evolution of the starch biosynthetic pathway.Initially,the ancestor of SBE can be traced back to an unidentified bacterium that existed before the formation of the last eukaryotic common ancestor(LECA)via horizontal gene transfer(HGT).This transfer event likely provided the eukaryote ancestor with the ability to synthesize glycogen.Furthermore,during the emergence of Archaeplastida,one clade of SS was transferred from Deltaproteobacteria by HGT,while ISA and the other clade of SS originated from Chlamydiae through endosymbiosis gene transfer(EGT).Both these transfer events collectively contributed to the establishment of the original starch biosynthetic pathway.Subsequently,after the divergence of Viridiplantae from Rhodophyta,all three enzymes underwent multiple duplications and N-terminus extension domain modifications,resulting in the formation of functionally specialized isoforms and ultimately leading to the complete starch biosynthetic pathway.By shedding light on the evolutionary origins of key enzymes involved in the starch biosynthetic pathway,this study provides important insights into the evolutionary events of plants.

Chromosome-level genome of Himalayan yew provides insights into the origin and evolution of the paclitaxel biosynthetic pathway

Taxus,commonly known as yew,is a well-known gymnosperm with great ornamental and medicinal value.In this study,by assembling a chromosome-level genome of the Himalayan yew(Taxus wallichiana)with 10.9 Gb in 12 chromosomes,we revealed that tandem duplication acts as the driving force of gene family evolution in the yew genome,resulting in the main genes for paclitaxel biosynthesis,i.e.those encoding the taxadiene synthase,P450s,and transferases,being clustered on the same chromosome.The tandem duplication may also provide genetic resources for the nature to sculpt the core structure of taxoids at different positions and subsequently establish the complex pathway of paclitaxel by neofunctionalization.Furthermore,we confirmed that there are two genes in the cluster encoding isoenzymes of a known enzyme in the paclitaxel biosynthetic pathway.The reference genome of the Himalayan yew will serve as a platform for decoding the complete biosynthetic pathway of paclitaxel and understanding the chemodi-versity of taxoids in gymnosperms.

PCPD:Plant cytochrome P450 database and web-based tools for structural construction and ligand docking

Plant cytochrome P450s play key roles in the diversification and functional modification of plant natural products.Although over 200,000 plant P450 gene sequences have been recorded,only seven crystalized P450 genes severely hampered the functional characterization,gene mining and engineering of important P450s.Here,we combined Rosetta homologous modeling and MD-based refinement to construct a high-resolution P450 structure prediction process(PCPCM),which was applied to 181 plant P450s with identified functions.Furthermore,we constructed a ligand docking process(PCPLD)that can be applied for plant P450s virtual screening.10 examples of virtual screening indicated the process can reduce about 80%screening space for next experimental verification.Finally,we constructed a plant P450 database(PCPD:http://p450.biodesign.ac.cn/),which includes the sequences,structures and functions of the 181 plant P450s,and a web service based on PCPCM and PCPLD.Our study not only developed methods for the P450-specific structure analysis,but also introduced a universal approach that can assist the mining and functional analysis of P450 enzymes.