Efficient Production of Flavonoid Glucuronides in Escherichia coli Using Flavonoid O-Glucuronosyltransferases Characterized from Marchantia polymorpha.

As a model liverwort, Marchantia polymorpha contains various flavone glucuronides with cardiovascular-promoting effects and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the related glucuronosyltransferases have not yet been reported. In this study, two bifunctional UDP-glucuronic acid/UDP-glucose:flavonoid glucuronosyltransferases/glucosyltransferases, MpUGT742A1 and MpUGT736B1, were identified from M. polymorpha. Extensive enzymatic assays found that MpUGT742A1 and MpUGT736B1 exhibited efficient glucuronidation activity for flavones, flavonols, and flavanones and showed promiscuous regioselectivity at positions 3, 6, 7, 3', and 4'. These enzymes catalyzed the production of a variety of flavonoid glucuronides with medicinal value, including apigenin-7-O-glucuronide and scutellarein-7-O-glucuronide. With the use of MpUGT736B1, apigenin-4'-O-glucuronide and apigenin-7,4'-di-O-glucuronide were prepared by scaled-up enzymatic catalysis and structurally identified by NMR spectroscopy. MpUGT742A1 also displayed glucosyltransferase activity on the 7-OH position of the flavanones using UDP-glucose as the sugar donor. Furthermore, we constructed four recombinant strains by combining the pathway for increasing the UDP-glucuronic acid supply with the two novel UGTs MpUGT742A1 and MpUGT736B1. When apigenin was used as a substrate, the extracellular apigenin-4'-O-glucuronide and apigenin-7,4'-di-O-glucuronide production obtained from the Escherichia coli strain BB2 reached 598 and 81 mg/L, respectively. Our study provides new candidate genes and strategies for the biosynthesis of flavonoid glucuronides.

Functional specialization of two UDP-glycosyltransferases MpUGT735A2 and MpUGT743A1 in the liverworts Marchantia polymorpha.

Family 1 UDP-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) are known to glycosylate multiple secondary plant metabolites and have been extensively studied. The increased availability of plant genome resources allows the identification of wide gene families, both functional and organizational. In this investigation, two MpUGT isoforms were cloned and functionally characterized from liverworts marchantia polymorpha and had high glycosylation activity against several flavonoids. MpUGT735A2 protein, in particular, tolerates a wide spectrum of substrates (flavonols, flavanones, flavones, stilbenes, bibenzyls, dihydrochalcone, phenylpropanoids, xanthones, and isoflavones). Overexpression of MpUGT735A2 and MpUGT743A1 in Arabidopsis thaliana enhances the accumulation of 3-O-glycosylated flavonol (kaempferol 3-O-glucoside-7-O-rhamnose), consistent with its in vitro enzymatic activity. Docking and mutagenesis techniques were applied to identify the structural and functional properties of MpUGT735A2 with promiscuous substrates. Mutation of Pro87 to Ser, or Gln88 to Val, substantially altered the regioselectivity for luteolin glycosylation, predominantly from the 3'-O- to the 7-O-position. The results were elucidated by focusing on the novel biocatalysts designed for producing therapeutic flavonoids. This investigation provides an approach to modulate MpUGT735A2 as a candidate gene for diverse glycosylation catalysis and a tool to design GTs with new substrate specificities for biomedical applications.