Molecular cloning and characterization of drimenol synthase from valerian plant (Valeriana officinalis)
- FEBS Lett. 2014 Dec 20;588(24):4597-603. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2014.10.031.
- 1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary T2N 1N4, Canada; Department of Agricultural Biotechnology and Research Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-921, Republic of Korea.
- 2. Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2G2, Canada.
- 3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary T2N 1N4, Canada. Electronic address: [email protected].
Drimenol, a sesquiterpene alcohol, and its derivatives display diverse bio-activities in nature. However, a drimenol synthase gene has yet to be identified. We identified a new sesquiterpene synthase cDNA (VoTPS3) in valerian plant (Valeriana officinalis). Purification and NMR analyses of the VoTPS3-produced terpene, and characterization of the VoTPS3 enzyme confirmed that VoTPS3 synthesizes (-)-drimenol. In feeding assays, possible reaction intermediates, farnesol and drimenyl diphosphate, could not be converted to drimenol, suggesting that the intermediate remains tightly bound to VoTPS3 during catalysis. A mechanistic consideration of (-)-drimenol synthesis suggests that drimenol synthase is likely to use a protonation-initiated cyclization, which is rare for sesquiterpene synthases. VoTPS3 can be used to produce (-)-drimenol, from which useful drimane-type terpenes can be synthesized.