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Title: Structural basis for divergent and convergent evolution of catalytic machineries in plant aromatic amino acid decarboxylase proteins

Journal Article · · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]
  1. Whitehead Inst. for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA (United States)
  2. The Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
  3. Whitehead Inst. for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  4. Whitehead Inst. for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA (United States); Williams College, Williamstown, MA (United States)

Radiation of the plant pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP)-dependent aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AAAD) family has yielded an array of paralogous enzymes exhibiting divergent substrate preferences and catalytic mechanisms. Plant AAADs catalyze either the decarboxylation or decarboxylation-dependent oxidative deamination of aromatic L-amino acids to produce aromatic monoamines or aromatic acetaldehydes, respectively. These compounds serve as key precursors for the biosynthesis of several important classes of plant natural products, including indole alkaloids, benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, hydroxycinnamic acid amides, phenylacetaldehyde-derived floral volatiles, and tyrosol derivatives. In this paper, we present the crystal structures of four functionally distinct plant AAAD paralogs. Through structural and functional analyses, we identify variable structural features of the substrate-binding pocket that underlie the divergent evolution of substrate selectivity toward indole, phenyl, or hydroxyphenyl amino acids in plant AAADs. Moreover, we describe two mechanistic classes of independently arising mutations in AAAD paralogs leading to the convergent evolution of the derived aldehyde synthase activity. Applying knowledge learned from this study, we successfully engineered a shortened benzylisoquinoline alkaloid pathway to produce (S)-norcoclaurine in yeast. This work highlights the pliability of the AAAD fold that allows change of substrate selectivity and access to alternative catalytic mechanisms with only a few mutations.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
Sponsoring Organization:
Pew Scholar Program in the Biomedical Sciences; Searle Scholars Program; National Science Foundation (NSF); Keck Foundation; The Chinese University of Hong Kong; National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS); National Institutes of Health (NIH); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
CHE-1709616; P41 GM103403; S10 RR029205; AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1631858
Journal Information:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 117, Issue 20; ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 30 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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