Profiling of lignans in metabolic engineered Arabidopsis

Abstract

Some furofuran lignans have beneficial effects on maintaining health. Our aim is to produce furofuran lignans efficiently by metabolic engineering of plants. In this study, we conducted lignan profiling in metabolic engineered Arabidopsis to survey the effects of modification of the biosynthetic pathways on lignan production. CYP81Q1 from sesame was introduced in Arabidopsis, resulting in newly formation of a furofulan lignan. Additionally, the amount of the furofulan lignan was increased by knockdown of a pinoresinol/lariciresinol reductase (PLR). We concluded that it is possible to produce furofuran lignans by metabolic engineering of plants.