Tomato root specialized metabolites evolved through gene duplication and regulatory divergence within a biosynthetic gene cluster.

Tremendous plant metabolic diversity arises from phylogenetically restricted specialized metabolic pathways. Specialized metabolites are synthesized in dedicated cells or tissues, with pathway genes sometimes colocalizing in biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). However, the mechanisms by which spatial expression patterns arise and the role of BGCs in pathway evolution remain underappreciated.

Deep roots and many branches: Origins of plant-specialized metabolic enzymes in general metabolism.

Collectively, plants produce hundreds of thousands of specialized metabolites from simple building blocks such as amino acids, fatty acids, and isoprenoids. As additional specialized metabolic enzymes are described, there is increasing recognition of the importance of cooption of general metabolic enzymes to specialized metabolism by gene duplication, narrowing of expression, and alteration of enzymatic activities. Here, we examine how several classes of enzymes were each coopted multiple times.

It happened again: Convergent evolution of acylglucose specialized metabolism in black nightshade and wild tomato.

Plants synthesize myriad phylogenetically restricted specialized (aka “secondary”) metabolites with diverse structures. Metabolism of acylated sugar esters in epidermal glandular secreting trichomes across the Solanaceae (nightshade) family is ideal for investigating the mechanisms of evolutionary metabolic diversification. We developed methods to structurally analyze acylhexose mixtures by 2D NMR, which led to the insight that the Old World species black nightshade () accumulates acylglucoses and acylinositols in the same tissue.

Within- and cross-species predictions of plant specialized metabolism genes using transfer learning.

Plant specialized metabolites mediate interactions between plants and the environment and have significant agronomical/pharmaceutical value. Most genes involved in specialized metabolism (SM) are unknown because of the large number of metabolites and the challenge in differentiating SM genes from general metabolism (GM) genes. Plant models like have extensive, experimentally derived annotations, whereas many non-model species do not.

Evolution of a plant gene cluster in Solanaceae and emergence of metabolic diversity.

Plants produce phylogenetically and spatially restricted, as well as structurally diverse specialized metabolites via multistep metabolic pathways. Hallmarks of specialized metabolic evolution include enzymatic promiscuity and recruitment of primary metabolic enzymes and examples of genomic clustering of pathway genes. Solanaceae glandular trichomes produce defensive acylsugars, with sidechains that vary in length across the family.

Arabidopsis ADC1 functions as an N -acetylornithine decarboxylase.

Polyamines are small aliphatic amines found in almost all organisms, ranging from bacteria to plants and animals. In most plants, putrescine, the metabolic precursor for longer polyamines, such as spermidine and spermine, is produced from arginine, with either agmatine or ornithine as intermediates. Here we show that Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) arginine decarboxylase 1 (ADC1), one of the two known arginine decarboxylases in Arabidopsis, not only synthesizes agmatine from arginine, but also converts N -acetylornithine to N-acetylputrescine.

Evolution of metabolic novelty: A trichome-expressed invertase creates specialized metabolic diversity in wild tomato.

Plants produce a myriad of taxonomically restricted specialized metabolites. This diversity-and our ability to correlate genotype with phenotype-makes the evolution of these ecologically and medicinally important compounds interesting and experimentally tractable. Trichomes of tomato and other nightshade family plants produce structurally diverse protective compounds termed acylsugars.

Arabidopsis NATA1 Acetylates Putrescine and Decreases Defense-Related Hydrogen Peroxide Accumulation.

Biosynthesis of the polyamines putrescine, spermidine, and spermine is induced in response to pathogen infection of plants. Putrescine, which is produced from Arg, serves as a metabolic precursor for longer polyamines, including spermidine and spermine. Polyamine acetylation, which has important regulatory functions in mammalian cells, has been observed in several plant species.

Alteration of Plant Primary Metabolism in Response to Insect Herbivory.

Plants in nature, which are continuously challenged by diverse insect herbivores, produce constitutive and inducible defenses to reduce insect damage and preserve their own fitness. In addition to inducing pathways that are directly responsible for the production of toxic and deterrent compounds, insect herbivory causes numerous changes in plant primary metabolism. Whereas the functions of defensive metabolites such as alkaloids, terpenes, and glucosinolates have been studied extensively, the fitness benefits of changes in photosynthesis, carbon transport, and nitrogen allocation remain less well understood.

Can yeast (S. cerevisiae) metabolic volatiles provide polymorphic signaling?

Chemical signaling between organisms is a ubiquitous and evolutionarily dynamic process that helps to ensure mate recognition, location of nutrients, avoidance of toxins, and social cooperation. Evolutionary changes in chemical communication systems progress through natural variation within the organism generating the signal as well as the responding individuals. A promising yet poorly understood system with which to probe the importance of this variation exists between D.