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Published on: December 5, 2019
Redirecting Primary Metabolism to Boost Production of Tyrosine-Derived Specialised Metabolites in Planta
Alfonso Timoneda1, Hester Sheehan1, Tao Feng1
1Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Abstract:
L-Tyrosine-derived specialized metabolites perform many important functions in plants, and have valuable applications in human health and nutrition. A necessary step in the overproduction of specialised tyrosine-derived metabolites in planta is the manipulation of primary metabolism to enhance the availability of tyrosine. Here, we utilise a naturally occurring de-regulated isoform of the key enzyme, arogenate dehydrogenase, to re-engineer the interface of primary and specialised metabolism, to boost the production of tyrosine-derived pigments in a heterologous plant host. Through manipulation of tyrosine availability, we report a 7-fold increase in the production of tyrosine-derived betalain pigments, with an upper range of 855 mg·kg-1·FW, which compare favourably to many in vitro and commercial sources of betalain pigments. Since the most common plant pathway for tyrosine synthesis occurs via arogenate, the de-regulated arogenate dehydrogenase isoform is a promising route for enhanced production of tyrosine-derived pharmaceuticals in diverse plant hosts.
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