Reconstruction of a Bis(bibenzyl) Biosynthetic Pathway through Analysis of 4-Coumarate:CoA Ligase and Double-Bond Reductase in Marchantia polymorpha.
Kobayashi Y, Tachibana M, Kimura N, Hatada M, Koeduka T
Crispr
Liverworts have quietly been making potent antimicrobial and anti-cancer compounds for millions of years — cracking open their biochemical playbook could one day lead to new medicines or help bioengineers grow these compounds in a lab.
A small, ancient plant called liverwort produces special protective chemicals that researchers have long found interesting for potential medical uses. Scientists finally figured out the exact step-by-step process the plant uses to build these chemicals, identifying two proteins that work like molecular assembly-line workers. They confirmed their discovery by using a precise genetic tool to disable one of those workers, which caused the plant to nearly stop making the chemicals altogether.
Key Findings
Two enzymes — Mp4CL3 and MpDBR1 — together form the biochemical route from p-coumaric acid to dihydro-p-coumaroyl-CoA, a key building block for bis(bibenzyl) compounds in liverwort.
MpDBR1 reduces the double bond specifically in p-coumaroyl-CoA (not in p-coumaric acid directly), resolving a long-standing question about the order of steps in the pathway.
CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of MpDBR1 caused a significant reduction in bis(bibenzyl) content, genetically confirming its essential role in the biosynthetic pathway.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists identified two key enzymes in liverwort that explain how the plant makes a rare class of protective compounds called bis(bibenzyls). By knocking out one enzyme with gene editing, they confirmed the exact biochemical route the plant uses to build these natural defenses.
Abstract Preview
Marchantia polymorpha has a unique phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway for producing bis(bibenzyl) compounds, such as marchantins. Previous tracer studies have suggested that dihydro-p-coumaroyl-C...
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Liverworts are a group of non-vascular land plants forming the division Marchantiophyta. They may also be referred to as hepatics. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information. The division name ...