Identification of a cyanobacterial aldehyde dehydrogenase that produces retinoic acid in vitro

Jennifer A Miles; Petrina Machattou; David Nevin-Jones; Michael E Webb; Andrew Millard; David J Scanlan; Paul C Taylor

doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.12.171

Identification of a cyanobacterial aldehyde dehydrogenase that produces retinoic acid in vitro

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2019 Feb 26;510(1):27-34. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.12.171. Epub 2019 Jan 17.

Authors

Jennifer A Miles¹, Petrina Machattou², David Nevin-Jones², Michael E Webb¹, Andrew Millard³, David J Scanlan⁴, Paul C Taylor⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK; Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
² School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
³ Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK.
⁴ School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK.
⁵ School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK; Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK. Electronic address: p.c.taylor@leeds.ac.uk.

PMID: 30660368
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.12.171

Abstract

Retinoic acid signalling is generally considered to be of animal origin. Recently, retinoic acid has been identified in cyanobacteria, yet no mechanism for its production has been identified. Here, we characterise for the first time a cyanobacterial aldehyde dehydrogenase that produces retinoic acid in vitro. Our computational studies suggest that the cyanobacterial aldehyde dehydrogenase resembles an ancestor of both eukaryotic aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 and aldehyde dehydrogenase 2. The Chlorogloeopsis fritschii aldehyde dehydrogenase described here may find applications in synthetic production of retinoic acid as well as contributing to our understanding of retinoid synthesis in cyanobacteria.

Keywords: Aldehyde dehydrogenase; Cyanobacteria; Lateral gene transfer; Retinoic acid.

MeSH terms

Aldehyde Dehydrogenase / metabolism*
Cyanobacteria / enzymology*
Cyanobacteria / metabolism
Evolution, Molecular
Phylogeny
Tretinoin / metabolism*

Substances

Tretinoin
Aldehyde Dehydrogenase