Engineered Biosynthesis of Plant Polyketides: Structure-Based and Precursor-Directed Approach

Pentaketide chromone synthase (PCS) and octaketide synthase (OKS) are novel plant-specific type III polyketide synthases (PKSs) obtained from Aloe arborescens. Recombinant PCS expressed in Escherichia coli catalyzes iterative condensations of five molecules of malonyl-CoA to produce a pentaketide 5,7-dihydroxy-2-methylchromone, while recombinant OKS carries out sequential condensations of eight molecules of malonyl-CoA to yield octaketides SEK4 and SEK4b, the longest polyketides produced by the structurally simple type III PKS. The amino acid sequences of PCS and OKS are 91% identical, sharing 50-60% identity with those of other chalcone synthase (CHS) superfamily type III PKSs of plant origin. One of the most characteristic features is that the conserved active-site Thr197 of CHS (numbering in Medicago sativa CHS) is uniquely replaced with Met207 in PCS and with Gly207 in OKS, respectively. Site-directed mutagenesis and X-ray crystallographic analyses demonstrated that the chemically inert single residue lining the active-site cavity controls the polyketide chain length and the product specificity depending on the steric bulk of the side chain. On the basis of the crystal structures, an F80A/Y82A/M207G triple mutant of the pentaketide-producing PCS was constructed and shown to catalyze condensations of nine molecules of malonyl-CoA to produce an unnatural novel nonaketide naphthopyrone, whereas an N222G mutant of the octaketides-producing OKS yielded a decaketide benzophenone SEK15 from ten molecules of malonyl-CoA. On the other hand, the type III PKSs exhibited broad substrate specificities and catalytic potential. OKS accepted p-coumaroyl-CoA as a starter substrate to produce an unnatural novel C-19 hexaketide stilbene and a C-21 heptaketide chalcone. Remarkably, the C-21 chalcone-forming activity was dramatically increased in the structure-guided OKS N222G mutant. In addition, OKS N222G mutant also yielded unnatural novel polyketides from phenylacetyl-CoA and benzoyl-CoA as a starter substrate. These results suggested that the engineered biosynthesis of plant polyketides by combination of the structure-based and the precursor-directed approach would lead to further production of chemically and structurally divergent unnatural novel polyketides.