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Production of tranilast [N-(3′,4′-dimethoxycinnamoyl)-anthranilic acid] and its analogs in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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Abstract

Biological synthesis of therapeutic drugs beneficial for human health using microbes offers an alternative production strategy to the methods that are commonly employed such as direct extraction from source organisms or chemical synthesis. In this study, we evaluated the potential for yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to be used as a catalyst for the synthesis of tranilast and various tranilast analogs (cinnamoyl anthranilates). Several studies have demonstrated that these phenolic amides have antioxidant properties and potential therapeutic benefits including antiinflammatory, antiproliferative, and antigenotoxic effects. The few cinnamoyl anthranilates naturally produced in plants such as oats and carnations result from the coupling of various hydroxycinnamoyl-CoAs to anthranilic acid. In order to achieve the microbial production of tranilast and several of its analogs, we engineered a yeast strain to co-express a 4-coumarate/CoA ligase (4CL, EC 6.2.1.12) from Arabidopsis thaliana and a hydroxycinnamoyl/benzoyl-CoA/anthranilate N-hydroxycinnamoyl/benzoyltransferase (HCBT, EC 2.3.1.144) from Dianthus caryophyllus. This modified yeast strain allowed us to produce tranilast and 26 different cinnamoyl anthranilate molecules within a few hours after exogenous supply of various combinations of cinnamic acids and anthranilate derivatives. Our data demonstrate the feasibility of rapidly producing a wide range of defined cinnamoyl anthranilates in yeast and underline a potential for the biological designed synthesis of naturally and non-naturally occurring molecules.

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Notes

  1. Vector name derived from the Gateway manual, Invitrogen.

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Acknowledgments

This work was part of the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute (http://www.jbei.org/) supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, through contract DE-AC02-05CH11231 between Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy.

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  1. Joint BioEnergy Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Aymerick Eudes, Edward E. K. Baidoo, Fan Yang, Helcio Burd, Masood Z. Hadi, Jay D. Keasling & Dominique Loqué

  2. Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 960 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1A OC6

    F. William Collins

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  1. Aymerick Eudes
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  2. Edward E. K. Baidoo
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  3. Fan Yang
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  4. Helcio Burd
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  5. Masood Z. Hadi
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  6. F. William Collins
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  7. Jay D. Keasling
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  8. Dominique Loqué
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Correspondence to Dominique Loqué.

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Eudes, A., Baidoo, E.E.K., Yang, F. et al. Production of tranilast [N-(3′,4′-dimethoxycinnamoyl)-anthranilic acid] and its analogs in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 89, 989–1000 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2939-y

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