Ramesha B. Thimmappa

TL;DR: Recent developments in the field of triterpene biosynthesis are reviewed, an overview of the genes and enzymes that have been identified to date are given, and strategies for discovering new triterpenes pathways are discussed.

TL;DR: The sequencing and analysis of the genome and extensive transcriptomes of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus are reported, a species from a special echinoderm group with extraordinary potential for saponin synthesis, aestivation and organ regeneration.

TL;DR: The characterization of protolimonoid biosynthetic enzymes from different plant species is reported and supports the notion of pathway conservation between both plant families.

TL;DR: Mutation of this residue results in a major change in triterpene cyclization, with production of tetracyclic rather than pentacyclics products, and further open up opportunities to engineer novel oxygenated triterPene scaffolds by manipulating the precursor supply.

TL;DR: A promiscuous OSC from rice (Oryza sativa) (OsOS) is reported that synthesizes a novel pentacyclic triterpene orysatinol as its main product and reveals mechanistic insights into the cyclization of oxidosqualene into tetra- and pentacyClic skeletons, and provides a new strategy to identify key residues determining OSC specificity.