Thousands of terpenes have been identified to date. However, only two classes of enzymes are known to be involved in their biosynthesis, and each class has characteristic amino-acid motifs. We recently identified a novel large-terpene (C₂₅/C₃₀/C₃₅) synthase, which shares no motifs with known enzymes. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of this enzyme, we determined the crystal structure of a large-β-prene synthase from B. alcalophilus (BalTS). Surprisingly, the overall structure of BalTS is similar to that of the α-domain of class I terpene synthases although their primary structures are totally different from each other. Two novel aspartate-rich motifs, DYLDNLxD and DY(F,L,W)IDxxED, are identified, and mutations of any one of the aspartates eliminate its enzymatic activity. The present work leads us to propose a new subclass of terpene synthases, class IB, which is probably responsible for large-terpene biosynthesis.

Rhododendron dauricum produces daurichromenic acid, an anti-HIV meroterpenoid, via oxidative cyclization of the farnesyl group of grifolic acid. The prenyltransferase (PT) that synthesizes grifolic acid is a farnesyltransferase in plant specialized metabolism. In this study, we demonstrated that the isoprenoid moiety of grifolic acid is derived from the 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol-4-phosphate pathway that takes place in plastids. We explored candidate sequences of plastid-localized PT homologs and identified a cDNA for this PT, RdPT1, which shares moderate sequence similarity with known aromatic PTs. RdPT1 is expressed exclusively in the glandular scales, where daurichromenic acid accumulates. In addition, the gene product was targeted to plastids in plant cells. The recombinant RdPT1 regiospecifically synthesized grifolic acid from orsellinic acid and farnesyl diphosphate, demonstrating that RdPT1 is the farnesyltransferase involved in daurichromenic acid biosynthesis. This enzyme strictly preferred orsellinic acid as a prenyl acceptor, whereas it had a relaxed specificity for prenyl donor structures, also accepting geranyl and geranylgeranyl diphosphates with modest efficiency to synthesize prenyl chain analogs of grifolic acid. Such a broad specificity is a unique catalytic feature of RdPT1 that is not shared among secondary metabolic aromatic PTs in plants. We discuss the unusual substrate preference of RdPT1 using a molecular modeling approach. The biochemical properties as well as the localization of RdPT1 suggest that this enzyme produces meroterpenoids in glandular scales cooperatively with previously identified daurichromenic acid synthase, probably for chemical defense on the surface of R. dauricum plants.

To the best of my knowledge, only 19 cyclic and 8 linear C-35 terpenes have been identified to date, and no family name was assigned to this terpene class until recently. In 2011, it was proposed that these C-35 terpenes should be called sesquarterpenes. This review highlights the biosynthesis of two kinds of sesquarterpenes (C-35 terpenes) that are produced via cyclization of a linear C-35 isoprenoid in Bacillus and Mycobacterium species. In Bacillus species, a new type of terpene cyclase that has no sequence homology with any known terpene synthases, as well as a bifunctional terpene cyclase that biosynthesizes two classes of cyclic terpenes with different numbers of carbons as natural products, have been identified. On the other hand, in Mycobacterium species, the first bifunctional Z-prenyltransferase has been found, but a novel terpene cyclase and a unique polyprenyl reductase remain unidentified. The identification of novel enzyme types should lead to the discovery of many homologous enzymes and their products including novel natural compounds. On the other hand, many enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of natural products have low substrate specificities in vitro. Therefore, to find novel natural products present in organisms, the multifunctionality of enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway of natural products should be analyzed.