2023 journal article

Identification and biosynthesis of plant papanridins, a group of novel oligomeric flavonoids

MOLECULAR PLANT, 16(11), 1773–1793.

By: Y. Zhu n, S. Yuzuak n, X. Sun n & D. Xie n

author keywords: flavanol polymerase; papanridin; flavan-3-ol; flav-2-en-3-ol; flavan-; flaven
TL;DR: A new polymerization pathway of a group of novel oligomeric flavonoids in plants is reported, termed 'papanridins', which will drive further investigations across plant science, nutrition, and animal sciences, seeking to unravel the significance of papanridin in both plants and food products. (via Semantic Scholar)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: December 18, 2023

<h2>Abstract</h2> The discovery of novel flavonoids and elucidation of their biosynthesis are fundamental to understanding their roles in plants and their benefits for human and animal health. Here, we report a new pathway for polymerization of a group of novel oligomeric flavonoids in plants. We engineered red cells for discovering genes of interest involved in the flavonoid pathway and identified a gene encoding a novel flavanol polymerase (FP) localized in the central vacuole. FP catalyzes the polymerization of flavanols, such as epicatechin and catechin, to produce yellowish dimers or oligomers. Structural elucidation shows that these compounds feature a novel oligomeric flaven–flavan (FF) skeleton linked by interflavan–flaven and interflaven bonds, distinguishing them from proanthocyanidins and dehydrodicatechins. Detailed chemical and physical characterizations further confirmed the novel FFs as flavonoids. Mechanistic investigations demonstrated that FP polymerizes flavan-3-ols and flav-2-en-3-ol carbocation, forming dimeric or oligomeric flaven-4→8-flavans, which we term "papanridins." Data from transgenic experiments, mutant analysis, metabolic profiling, and phylogenetic analyses show that the biosynthesis of papanridins is prevalent in cacao, grape, blueberry, corn, rice, <i>Arabidopsis</i>, and other species in the plant kingdom. In summary, our study discoveries a group of novel oligomeric flavonoids, namely papanridins, and reveals that a novel FP-mediated polymerization mechanism for the biosynthesis of papanridins in plants.