CHARACTERISTICS OF VELLOSIMINE REDUCTASE, A SPECIFIC ENZYME INVOLVED IN THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF THE RAUWOLFIA ALKALOID SARPAGINE
A plant enzyme - vellosimine reductase - has been isolated from Rauwolfia cell suspension cultures.This new enzyme has been purified (110-fold) and characterized.The reductase is a specific enzyme of the sarpagine pathway catalyzing the NADPH dependent conversion of vellosimine into 10-deoxysarpagine.The latter alkaloid is the immediate biogenetic precursor of sarpagine as shown by its high in vivo incorporation rate (86percent) into sarpagine.
Pfitzner, Artur,Krausch, Brigitte,Stoeckigt, Joachim