Biochemical characterization reveals the functional divergence of two tropinone reductases from Przewalskia tangutica

Przewalskia tangutica is a traditional medicinal plant from Tibet used for the analgesic effect from the tropane alkaloids (TAs) produced by the plant. Its roots have the highest yield of hyoscyamine in all plant species and so have been overharvested becoming an endangered medicinal plant species. Metabolic engineering is a good way to improve the yield of TAs in plants. In our study, two functionally distinct tropinone reductases genes, PtTRI and PtTRII, were cloned from P. tangutica and the functional divergence were characterized. The enzyme kinetics of PtTRI and PtTRII were investigated. The phylogenetic analysis classified them into different clades: PtTRI and PtTRII were in the clade of tropine‐forming reductase and pseudotropine‐forming reductase, respectively. We found PtTRI to be expressed in the roots but less in leaves, whereas PtTRII was expressed in the roots at higher levels than in the leaves. The kinetic parameters (Km, Vmax, and Kcat) were analyzed using purified recombinant enzymes at their optimum pH. Enzymatic analysis results showed that tropinone is a better substrate for PtTRII compared with PtTRI, suggesting that PtTRII might be a potential gene target for TA biosynthesis engineering. Compared with the reported TRIs, PtTRI exhibited a higher affinity for tropinone.