14364-09-1

UDP-glucose:sinapic acid glucosyltransferase (SGT; EC 2.4.1.120) was purified from 60-h-old seedlings of Brassica napus. The purifiod SGT appears to be a cytosolic monomeric polypeptide with a Mr of 42 kDa and a pI of 5. Kinetic analysis sugges

1-O-β-Feruloyl and 1-O-β-sinapoyl glucopyranoses are two common substrates for serine carboxypeptidase-like acyltransferases and serve as acyl donors in the biosynthesis of numerous secondary metabolites. In addition, they are involved in plant cell wall

Transglycosidases are enzymes that have the potential to catalyze the synthesis of a wide range of high-value compounds starting from biomass-derived feedstocks. Improving their activity and broadening the substrate range are important goals to enable the widespread application of this family of biocatalysts. In this work, we engineered 20 mutants of the rice transglycosidase Os9BGlu31 and evaluated their catalysis in 462 reactions over 18 different substrates. This allowed us to identify mutants that expanded their substrate range and showed high activity, including W243L and W243N. We also developed double mutants that show very high activity on certain substrates and exceptional specificity towards hydrolysis, such as L241D/W243N. In order to guide a more general use of Os9BGlu31 variants as transglycosylation catalysts, we built cheminformatics models based on topological descriptors of the substrates. These models showed useful predictive potential on the external validation set and are allowing the identification of efficient catalytic routes to novel phytohormone and antibiotic glucoconjugates of interest.

A cDNA encoding the ester-forming hydroxybenzoic acid glucosyltransferase UGT84A13 was isolated from a cDNA library of Quercus robur swelling buds and young leaves. The enzyme displayed high sequence identity to resveratrol/hydroxycinnamate and hydroxybenzoate/hydroxycinnamate glucosyltransferases from Vitis species and clustered to the phylogenetic group L of plant glucosyltransferases, mainly involved in the formation of 1-O-β-d-glucose esters. In silico transcriptome analysis confirmed expression of UGT84A13 in Quercus tissues which were previously shown to exhibit UDP-glucose:gallic acid glucosyltransferase activity. UGT84A13 was functionally expressed in Escherichia coli as N-terminal His-tagged protein. In vitro kinetic measurements with the purified recombinant enzyme revealed a clear preference for hydroxybenzoic acids as glucosyl acceptor in comparison to hydroxycinnamic acids. Of the preferred in vitro substrates, protocatechuic, vanillic and gallic acid, only the latter and its corresponding 1-O-?-D-glucose ester were found to be accumulated in young oak leaves. This indicates that in planta UGT84A13 catalyzes the formation of, 1-O-galloyl-?-D-glucose, the first committed step of gallotannin biosynthesis.