| Title: | Mapping key amino acid residues for the epimerase efficiency and stereospecificity of the sex pheromone biosynthetic short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases of Nasonia |
| Author(s): | Semmelmann F; Hofferberth J; Ruther J; Sterner R; |
| Address: | "Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, D-93053, Regensburg, Germany. Department of Chemistry, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, 43022, USA. Institute of Zoology, University of Regensburg, 93053, Regensburg, Germany. Joachim.Ruther@ur.de" |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-018-37200-7 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2045-2322 (Electronic) 2045-2322 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Males of the parasitic wasp genus Nasonia use blends of chiral hydroxylactones as sex pheromones to attract conspecific females. Whereas all Nasonia species use a mixture of (4R,5S)-5-hydroxy-4-decanolide (RS) and 4-methylquinazoline (MQ) as sex pheromones, Nasonia vitripennis evolved (4R,5R)-5-hydroxy-4-decanolide (RR) as an extra sex pheromone component. We recently identified and functionally characterized three short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases (SDRs) NV10127, NV10128, and NV10129 that are capable of catalyzing the epimerization of RS to RR via (4R)-5-oxo-4-decanolide (ODL) as intermediate. Despite their very high sequence identities of 88-98%, these proteins differ drastically in their ability to epimerize RS to RR and in their stereoselectivity when reducing ODL to RR/RS. Here, in order to unravel the sequence differences underlying these varying functional properties of NV1027, NV10128 and NV10129, we created chimeras of the three enzymes and monitored their catalytic activities in vitro. The results show that a few amino acid changes at the C-termini and active sites of Nasonia vitripennis SDRs lead to substantially altered RS to RR epimerization and ODL-reduction activities. Thus, our study adds to the understanding of pheromone evolution by showing that subtle mutations in key biosynthetic enzymes can result in drastic effects on the composition of chemical signals" |
| Keywords: | "Amino Acids/*genetics/*metabolism Animals DNA Mutational Analysis Racemases and Epimerases/genetics/metabolism Recombination, Genetic Sex Attractants/*biosynthesis Short Chain Dehydrogenase-Reductases/*genetics/*metabolism Substrate Specificity Wasps/*enz;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineSemmelmann, Florian Hofferberth, John Ruther, Joachim Sterner, Reinhard eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2019/01/25 Sci Rep. 2019 Jan 23; 9(1):330. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-37200-7" |
