Dynamic evolution of terpenoid biosynthesis in the Lamiaceae

With the increasing accessibility of whole-genome sequencing it has become standard practice to apply such an approach to investigatiion of plants with important and/or interesting natural products. In part, this reflects recognition that plants have occasionally rearranged or shuffled their genes to generate biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) for certain natural products ( Smit and Lichman, 2022 Smit S.J. Lichman B.R. Plant biosynthetic gene clusters in the context of metabolic evolution. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2022; 39: 1465-1482https://doi.org/10.1039/d2np00005a Crossref PubMed Scopus (13) Google Scholar ; Zhan et al., 2022 Zhan C. Shen S. Yang C. Liu Z. Fernie A.R. Graham I.A. Luo J. Plant metabolic gene clusters in the multi-omics era. Trends Plant Sci. 2022; 27: 981-1001https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2022.03.002 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (25) Google Scholar ). Use of such a genome-sequence based “reverse-genetics” approach to BGC discovery was first demonstrated in rice (Oryza sativa), particularly for diterpenoid production, enabling relatively rapid progress toward elucidation of the underlying metabolic network ( Wang et al., 2023 Wang Z. Nelson D.R. Zhang J. Wan X. Peters R.J. Plant (di)terpenoid evolution: from pigments to hormones and beyond. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2023; 40: 452-469https://doi.org/10.1039/d2np00054g Crossref PubMed Scopus (2) Google Scholar ). Accordingly, discovery of an associated BGC is expected to enable more facile investigation of the relevant biosynthetic pathway for the targeted natural product ( Zhan et al., 2022 Zhan C. Shen S. Yang C. Liu Z. Fernie A.R. Graham I.A. Luo J. Plant metabolic gene clusters in the multi-omics era. Trends Plant Sci. 2022; 27: 981-1001https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2022.03.002 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (25) Google Scholar ). However, it must be noted that plant metabolic evolution is not constrained by BGCs, as the associated pathways often rely on enzymes whose genes are not co-localized ( Smit and Lichman, 2022 Smit S.J. Lichman B.R. Plant biosynthetic gene clusters in the context of metabolic evolution. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2022; 39: 1465-1482https://doi.org/10.1039/d2np00005a Crossref PubMed Scopus (13) Google Scholar ). Indeed, it has been reported that co-expression is a more reliable signal of common biosynthetic function ( Wisecaver et al., 2017 Wisecaver J.H. Borowsky A.T. Tzin V. Jander G. Kliebenstein D.J. Rokas A. A global coexpression network approach for connecting genes to specialized metabolic pathways in plants. Plant Cell. 2017; 29: 944-959https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00009 Crossref PubMed Scopus (143) Google Scholar ).