Δ10(E)-Sphingolipid Desaturase Involved in Fusaruside Mycosynthesis and Stress Adaptation in Fusarium graminearum

Sci Rep. 2015 May 21:5:10486. doi: 10.1038/srep10486.

Abstract

Sphingolipids are biologically important and structurally distinct cell membrane components. Fusaruside (1) is a 10,11-unsaturated immunosuppressive fungal sphingolipid with medical potentials for treating liver injury and colitis, but its poor natural abundance bottlenecks its druggability. Here, fusaruside is clarified biosynthetically, and its efficacy-related 10,11-double bond can be generated under the regioselective catalysis of an unprecedented Δ10(E)-sphingolipid desaturase (Δ10(E)-SD). Δ10(E)-SD shares 17.7% amino acid sequence similarity with a C9-unmethylated Δ10-sphingolipid desaturase derived from a marine diatom, and 55.7% with Δ8(E)-SD from Fusarium graminearum. Heterologous expression of Δ10(E)-SD in Pichia pastoris has been established to facilitate a reliable generation of 1 through the Δ10(E)-SD catalyzed desaturation of cerebroside B (2), an abundant fungal sphingolipid. Site directed mutageneses show that the conserved histidines of Δ10(E)-SD are essential for the 10,11-desaturation catalysis, which is also preconditioned by the C9-methylation of the substrate. Moreover, Δ10(E)-SD confers improved survival and faster growth to fungal strains at low temperature and high salinity, in parallel with to higher contents of 1 in the mycelia. Collectively, the investigation describes a new Δ10(E)-sphingolipid desaturase with its heterologous expression fundamentalizing a biotechnological supply of 1, and eases the follow-up clarification of the immunosuppression and stress-tolerance mechanism.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Physiological / drug effects
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Biocatalysis
  • Cerebrosides / analysis
  • Cerebrosides / biosynthesis*
  • Cerebrosides / metabolism
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Cold Temperature
  • Fungal Proteins / genetics
  • Fungal Proteins / metabolism*
  • Fusarium / enzymology*
  • Glycosphingolipids / analysis
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutagenesis, Site-Directed
  • Oxidoreductases / genetics
  • Oxidoreductases / metabolism*
  • Pichia / metabolism
  • Recombinant Proteins / biosynthesis
  • Recombinant Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Proteins / isolation & purification
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Sodium Chloride / pharmacology
  • Stereoisomerism
  • Substrate Specificity

Substances

  • Cerebrosides
  • Fungal Proteins
  • Glycosphingolipids
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • cerebroside B
  • fusaruside
  • Sodium Chloride
  • Oxidoreductases
  • sphingolipid desaturase