• DOI:10.1128/AEM.00375-20
• Corpus ID: 214601066

Oxidative Catabolism of (+)-Pinoresinol Is Initiated by an Unusual Flavocytochrome Encoded by Translationally Coupled Genes within a Cluster of (+)-Pinoresinol-Coinduced Genes in Pseudomonas sp. Strain SG-MS2

@article{Shettigar2020OxidativeCO,
  title={Oxidative Catabolism of (+)-Pinoresinol Is Initiated by an Unusual Flavocytochrome Encoded by Translationally Coupled Genes within a Cluster of (+)-Pinoresinol-Coinduced Genes in Pseudomonas sp. Strain SG-MS2},
  author={Madhura Shettigar and Sahil Balotra and A A Kasprzak and Stephen L. Pearce and Michael James Lacey and Matthew C. Taylor and Jian-wei Liu and David M. Cahill and John G. Oakeshott and Gunjan Pandey},
  journal={Applied and Environmental Microbiology},
  year={2020},
  volume={86}
}

• M. Shettigar, S. Balotra, +7 authors G. Pandey
• Published 20 March 2020
• Biology
• Applied and Environmental Microbiology

(+)-Pinoresinol is an important plant defense compound, a major food lignan for humans and some other animals, and the model compound used to study degradation of the β-β′ linkages in lignin. We report a gene cluster, in one strain each of Pseudomonas and Burkholderia, that is involved in the oxidative catabolism of (+)-pinoresinol. The flavoprotein component of the α-hydroxylase which heads the pathway belongs to the 4-phenol oxidizing (4PO) subgroup of the vanillyl alcohol oxidase/p-cresol methyl hydroxylase (VAO/PCMH) enzyme family but constitutes a novel combination of cofactor and electron acceptor properties for the family. It is translationally coupled with a cytochrome gene whose product is also required for activity. The work casts new light on the biology of (+)-pinoresinol and its transformation to other bioactive molecules. Potential applications of the findings include new options for deconstructing lignin into useful chemicals and the generation of new phytoestrogenic enterolactones from lignans.