Investigating the Biosynthetic Pathways to Polyacetylenic Natural Products in Fistulina hepatica and Echinacea purpurea

Abstract

Polyacetylenic natural products, compounds containing multiple carbon-carbon triple bonds, have been found in a large collection of organisms. Radiochemical tracer studies have indicated that these bioactive metabolites are synthesized from fatty acid precursors through a series of uncharacterized desaturation and acetylenation steps. To date, there are three main pathways believed to be involved in acetylenic natural product biosynthesis. However, it is apparent that the crepenynic acid pathway is the origin of a vast majority of the known plant and fungal acetylenic products. This investigation provides concrete evidence that the polyacetylenic natural products found in the fungus Fistulina hepatica and the medicinal plant species Echinacea purpurea are biosynthesized from crepenynic acid. Through heterologous expression in Yarrowia lipolytica, two acetylenases capable of producing crepenynic acid were identified from E. purpurea. Furthermore, heterologous expression of two diverged desaturases isolated from F. hepatica, uncovered a ∆12-acetylenase and the first multifunctional enzyme capable of ∆14-/∆16- desaturation and ∆14-acetylenation.