Abietadiene synthase from grand fir (Abies grandis). cDNA isolation, characterization, and bacterial expression of a bifunctional diterpene cyclase involved in resin acid biosynthesis.

(-)-Abietic acid, the principal diterpenoid resin acid of the wound-induced oleoresin secreted by grand fir (Abies grandis), is synthesized by the cyclization of geranylgeranyl diphosphate to (-)-abieta-7(8),13(14)-diene, followed by sequential three-step oxidation of the C-18 methyl group of the olefin to a carboxyl function. The enzyme catalyzing the cyclization reaction, abietadiene synthase, was purified from stems of wounded grand fir saplings and was digested with trypsin. Amino acid sequence information from the resulting peptides allowed construction of degenerate oligonucleotide primers, which amplified a 551-base pair fragment from a wound-induced stem cDNA library. This hybridization probe was then utilized to screen the wound-induced stem cDNA library, from which three cDNA clones were isolated that were functionally expressed in Escherichia coli, thereby confirming that a single protein catalyzes the complex, multistep cyclization of geranylgeranyl diphosphate to abietadiene. cDNA isolate Ac22.1, which yielded the highest expressed level of cyclase activity, was 2861 base pairs in length and encoded an 868-amino acid open reading frame that included a putative plastidial transit peptide. Deduced amino acid sequence comparison to other terpene cyclases revealed an amino-terminal region of the abietadiene synthase, which resembles those of enzymes that employ substrate double bond protonation to initiate the carbocationic reaction cascade, and a carboxyl-terminal region of the synthase, which resembles those of enzymes that employ ionization of the substrate allylic diphosphate ester function to initiate the cyclization reaction. This apparent fusion of segments of the two distinct terpenoid cyclase types is consistent with the novel mechanism of the bifunctional abietadiene synthase in catalyzing both protonation-initiated and ionization-initiated cyclization steps.