How genes determine the development of chiral structures is a fascinating question. The reciprocal placement of female and male organs on opposite sides of mirror-image flowers promotes efficient cros...

Heterotetrameric benzaldehyde synthase forms a composite α-β active site for benzaldehyde production.

Cannabinoid cyclases produce bioactive cannabinoids, but their mechanisms are poorly understood. Here the authors solve the substrate-bound structure of a cannabinoid cyclase, show that bacterial and ...

Homoharringtonine (HHT) is a plant-derived anticancer drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Here, the authors elucidate a root-tip-specific biosynthetic pathway to its alkaloid core, i...

Understanding how plant cells coordinate metabolism remains a major challenge, particularly at the level of intracellular organization. This perspective proposes that dynamic organelle positioning ac...

The plant kingdom is rich with medicinal natural products that are complex and difficult to access. Discovering how plants build these molecules can be challenging, especially for biosynthetic pathway...

Enzyme assemblies can enhance metabolic efficiency, yet the ways in which transient interactions fine tune catalytic outcomes remain poorly understood. This study demonstrates that a flexible partner ...

Retrotransposons are applied in plants for safe-harbor transgene integration.

Monoterpene indole alkaloids encompass a diverse class of plant natural products. Many of these valuable compounds, including the anticancer medici...

Plants sense water deficiency through SAM8 protein condensation, which responds to reduced hydration and triggers stress adaptation by altering RNA export and gene translation.

Despite the significance of nicotine, a neuroactive alkaloid produced by tobacco, its biosynthesis has remained elusive. Here, the authors report the in vitro and in planta reconstruction of a fo...

Parasitic beetles are the first animals known to imitate floral scents

For centuries, the process by which the cinchona tree produces its valuable alkaloids, including the life-saving quinine used to treat malaria, was shrouded in mystery. Now, a research team from the M...

Single-particle tracking experiments in intact cells reveal dynamic co- and post-translational interactions of the TRiC–PFD chaperonin complex with client proteins during in vivo protein folding.

Biosynthetic pathways of specialized metabolites utilize protein–protein interactions (PPIs) to facilitate metabolic flux and sequester reactive intermediates. The monoterpene indole alkaloid pathway of Catharanthus roseus contains several metabolic branch points that may be mediated via transient PPIs. We investigated one branch point of this pathway that is responsible for the conversion of the intermediate dehydrosecodine into three possible cyclized alkaloid scaffolds, which act as intermediates en route to medicinally important alkaloids, such as vinblastine. We verified previously observed PPIs between reductase-cyclase pairs and additionally uncovered PPIs between evolutionarily related protein homologues. Through structural analysis of dehydrosecodine cyclases, we identified surface residues that appear to mediate interaction with the upstream reductase. We then demonstrated, via in vitro competition assays, that these residues impact the distribution of downstream products. These results highlight the significance of transient PPIs in the control and regulation of specialized metabolite pathways.