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Natural Products
Dryopteris crassirhizoma Nakai

Ferns produce a variety of cyclic triterpene hydrocarbons in large amount. Squalene cyclases (SCs) are responsible enzymes for formation of cyclic triterpene hydrocarbon skeletons. Although more than ten bacterial SCs have been cloned and four of them characterized for their enzymatic products, the only example of a fern SC is ACH, from Adiantum capillus-veneris, which produces hydroxyhopane. To obtain a deeper understanding of the molecular evolution of SCs and the origin of the structural diversity of fern triterpenes, further cloning and characterization of SCs have been pursued. In this study, a SC cDNA, DCD, was cloned from Dryopteris crassirhizoma by homology-based RT-PCR. DCD contains a 2058-bp open reading frame that encodes a 685 amino acid polypeptide exhibiting 66% identity to the previously identified fern SC, ACH, and 35–40% identity to bacterial SCs. Heterologous expression of DCD in yeast established it to be a dammaradiene synthase affording dammara-18(28),21-diene, a tetracyclic triterpene hydrocarbon.

Dryopteris crassirhizoma Nakai
Research products of Dryopteris crassirhizoma Nakai
Catalog Product Name CAS Number Manual
CFN99519Dryocrassin ABBA12777-70-7  PDF
CFN99573Filixic acid ABA38226-84-5  PDF
CFN98474Albaspidin AA3570-40-9  PDF
CFN90252Albaspidin AP59092-91-0  PDF
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