Identification of a Novel Metabolic Target for Bioactive Triterpenoids Biosynthesis in Ganoderma lucidum

Triterpenoids are crucial active ingredients of ( ) with various health benefits. Yet the low biosynthesis greatly restricts their industrial applications, novel metabolic engineering strategies are needed to further enhance triterpenoids production. Transcription factors play vital roles in the metabolic regulation of terpenoids, which are still scarce to study in . Herein, a transcription factor (GenBank No. MZ436906.1) potential for metabolic regulation of triterpenes was identified for the first time. MeJA could increase triterpenoids biosynthesis, and significantly responded to MeJA induction, suggesting is a new target for triterpenoids overproduction. The regulatory effect of the newly identified target was further validated by homologous gene overexpression and silence in . It's demonstrated that overexpression of significantly increased triterpenoids accumulation and the key enzyme genes transcription in the biosynthetic pathway, while silencing it displayed the opposite effect, indicating could positively regulate the triterpenoids biosynthesis by activating the synergistic expression of key enzyme genes in the biosynthetic pathway. Consequently, was identified as a positive regulator and novel metabolic target for triterpenoids biosynthesis, it sheds new lights on the regulatory effect regulation and synthetic biology of triterpenoids.