Reconstitution of a 10-gene pathway for synthesis of the plant alkaloid dihydrosanguinarine in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Elena Fossati, Andrew Ekins, Lauren Narcross, Yun Zhu, Jean-Pierre Falgueyret, Guillaume A. W. Beaudoin, Peter J Facchini and Vincent J. J. Martin ()
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Elena Fossati: Concordia University
Andrew Ekins: Concordia University
Lauren Narcross: Concordia University
Yun Zhu: Concordia University
Jean-Pierre Falgueyret: Centre for Structural and Functional Genomics, Concordia University
Guillaume A. W. Beaudoin: University of Calgary
Peter J Facchini: University of Calgary
Vincent J. J. Martin: Concordia University

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs) represent a large class of plant secondary metabolites, including pharmaceuticals such as morphine, codeine and their derivatives. Large-scale production of BIA-based pharmaceuticals is limited to extraction and derivatization of alkaloids that accumulate in planta. Synthesis of BIAs in microbial hosts could bypass such limitations and transform both industrial production of BIAs with recognized value and research into uncharacterized BIAs. Here we reconstitute a 10-gene plant pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that allows for the production of dihydrosanguinarine and its oxidized derivative sanguinarine from (R,S)-norlaudanosoline. Synthesis of dihydrosanguinarine also yields the side-products N-methylscoulerine and N-methylcheilanthifoline, the latter of which has not been detected in plants. This work represents the longest reconstituted alkaloid pathway ever assembled in yeast and demonstrates the feasibility of the production of high-value alkaloids in microbial systems.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4283

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