Occurrence and biosynthesis of plant sesterterpenes (C25), a new addition to terpene diversity.

Qingwen Chen, Jianxu Li, Yihua Ma, Weiliang Yuan, Peng Zhang, Guodong Wang

Plant communications 2021 Sep 13

filter terms:

Terpenes, the largest group of plant-specialized metabolites, have received considerable attention for their highly diverse biological activities. Monoterpenes (C10), sesquiterpenes (C15), diterpenes (C20), and triterpenes (C30) have been extensively investigated at both the biochemical and molecular levels over the past two decades. Sesterterpenes (C25), an understudied terpenoid group, were recently described by plant scientists at the molecular level. This review summarizes the plant species that produce sesterterpenes and describes recent developments in the field of sesterterpene biosynthesis, placing a special focus on the catalytic mechanism and evolution of geranylfarnesyl diphosphate synthase and sesterterpene synthase. Finally, we propose several questions to be addressed in future studies, which may help to elucidate sesterterpene metabolism in plants. © 2021 The Author(s).

Citation

Qingwen Chen, Jianxu Li, Yihua Ma, Weiliang Yuan, Peng Zhang, Guodong Wang. Occurrence and biosynthesis of plant sesterterpenes (C25), a new addition to terpene diversity. Plant communications. 2021 Sep 13;2(5):100184