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Updated: Sep 3, 2025

Biosynthesis of a Flavonol from a Flavanone by Establishing a One-pot Bienzymatic Cascade
Published on: August 14, 2019
Screening and characterizing flavone synthases and its application in biosynthesizing vitexin from naringenin by a
Huan Wang1, Yangbao Wu1, Yang Liu1
1Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China; Jiangsu Key Lab of Biomass-Based Green Fuels and Chemicals, Nanjing 210037, China.
Abstract:
C-glycosylated flavonoids are important structural derivatives of flavonoids and have a variety of physiological activities. Flavone synthase is a key enzyme for producing C-glycosylated flavonoids. In this study, three flavone synthase genes were cloned, overexpressed and characterized in E. coli. By analyzing the enzymatic properties of the enzymes, Aethusa cynapium flavone synthase (AcFNS) was better than Apium graveolens flavone synthase (AgFNS) and Petroselinum crispum flavone synthase (PcFNS) in terms of catalytic ability, organic solvent tolerance and stability. Then, a one-pot enzymatic cascade was developed to synthesize vitexin from naringenin by using AcFNS, C-glycosyltransferase (TcCGT) from Trollius chinensis, and sucrose synthase (GmSUS) from Glycine max. The effects of enzyme ratios, substrate concentrations, cofactors, and reaction conditions on vitexin production were determined. The highest vitexin production reached 935.6 mg/L with a corresponding molar conversion of 78.7 % for (2 S)-naringenin. Thus, this is the first report of a one-pot enzymatic cascade for vitexin production from naringenin in vitro.

