Assembly of Plant Enzymes in E. coli for the Production of the Valuable (−)-Podophyllotoxin Precursor (−)-Pluviatolide

Lignans are plant secondary metabolites with a wide range of reported health-promoting bioactivities. Traditional routes toward these natural products involve, among others, the extraction from plant sources and chemical synthesis. However, the availability of the sources and the complex chemical structures of lignans often limit the feasibility of these approaches. In this work, we introduce a newly assembled biosynthetic route in E. coli for the efficient conversion of the common higher-lignan precursor (+)-pinoresinol to the noncommercially available (−)-pluviatolide via three intermediates. (−)-Pluviatolide is considered a crossroad compound in lignan biosynthesis, because the methylenedioxy bridge in its structure, resulting from the oxidation of (−)-matairesinol, channels the biosynthetic pathway toward the microtubule depolymerizer (−)-podophyllotoxin. This oxidation reaction is catalyzed with high regio- and enantioselectivity by a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase from Sinopodophyllum hexandrum (CYP719A23), which was expressed and optimized regarding redox partners in E. coli. Pinoresinol-lariciresinol reductase from Forsythia intermedia (FiPLR), secoisolariciresinol dehydrogenase from Podophyllum pleianthum (PpSDH), and CYP719A23 were coexpressed together with a suitable NADPH-dependent reductase to ensure P450 activity, allowing for four sequential biotransformations without intermediate isolation. By using an E. coli strain coexpressing the enzymes originating from four plants, (+)-pinoresinol was efficiently converted, allowing the isolation of enantiopure (−)-pluviatolide at a concentration of 137 mg/L (ee ≥99% with 76% isolated yield).