Evolution of steroid biosynthetic enzymes in plants and their use in metabolic engineering

Abstract

Steroid is a general term for compounds with the sterane skeleton. In plants, sterols are biosynthesized from cycloartenol as a precursor, and various steroid compounds with various biological activities are biosynthesized from phytosterols as precursors. Phytosterols and brassinosteroids are essential for all seed plants, and therefore, almost all of their biosynthetic genes have been identified. On the other hand, many steroid compounds accumulate in a wide variety of plant species, and their chemical structures and biological activities are also diverse, and therefore, their biosynthesis is different in each plant species, which has delayed the biosynthetic research of steroid compounds. Recent advances in biotechnology have accumulated knowledge on the biosynthesis genes of steroid compounds, and this review summarizes the recent findings on biosynthetic enzymes and discusses the molecular evolution of steroid biosynthetic systems in plants.