Synthesis of monophosphorylated lipid A precursors using 2-naphthylmethyl ether as a protecting group

• Jundi Xue,
• Ziyi Han,
• Gen Li,
• Khalisha A. Emmanuel,
• Cynthia L. McManus,
• Qiang Sui,
• Dongmian Ge,
• Qi Gao and
• Li Cai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1955–1962, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.162

• phosphorylated using tetrabenzyl diphosphate in the presence of lithium bis(trimethyl)silylamide (LHMDS) in THF at −78 °C [23] to afford the anomeric phosphate 23 exclusively as the α-anomer. Finally, global deprotection of 23 (benzyl phosphate, Nap ethers, and naphthylidene acetal) were accomplished by

• of 29 was phosphorylated using tetrabenzyl diphosphate in the presence of LHMDS in THF at −78 °C. Then finally global deprotection (hydrogenation over Pd-black) was carried out to remove the naphthylidene acetal, Nap ethers, and the benzyl phosphate groups in compound 30. By this route the target

Synthesis, docking study and biological evaluation of ᴅ-fructofuranosyl and ᴅ-tagatofuranosyl sulfones as potential inhibitors of the mycobacterial galactan synthesis targeting the galactofuranosyltransferase GlfT2

• Marek Baráth,
• Jana Jakubčinová,
• Zuzana Konyariková,
• Stanislav Kozmon,
• Katarína Mikušová and
• Maroš Bella

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1853–1862, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.152

• enzymes require an activated sugar donor uridine diphosphate (UDP)-Galf, which is synthesized from UDP-galactopyranose (UDP-Galp) by the enzyme UDP-Galp mutase [9] (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1). The recently published GlfT2 X-ray structure with a UDP donor part [10] was used in the reaction

• Information File 1, Figure S3). A small movement was observed only for the diphosphate part due to the proper accommodation of the Galf moiety within the GlfT2 binding pocket. This suggested that the UDP-Galf docked binding pose was reliable and could be used as a reference for the docking of the studied

Understanding the role of active site residues in CotB2 catalysis using a cluster model

• Keren Raz,
• Ronja Driller,
• Thomas Brück,
• Bernhard Loll and
• Dan T. Major

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 50–59, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.7

• reaction. The coordinates of the amino acids and the substrate GGPP were taken from the corresponding X-ray structure, with a resolution of 1.8 Å [42]. In this approach, geometry optimizations with the “Modredundant” keyword were performed, and the active site residues, diphosphate moiety, and magnesium

Synthesis of C-glycosyl phosphonate derivatives of 4-amino-4-deoxy-α-ʟ-arabinose

• Lukáš Kerner and
• Paul Kosma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 9–14, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.2

• ; lipopolysaccharide; Introduction Glycosyltransferases are important enzymes that accomplish the transfer of activated sugar phosphates onto their respective acceptor molecules [1]. In most cases, nucleotide diphosphate sugars serve as the reactive species, but lipid-linked diphosphate derivatives are equally

• and the glycosyl transfer have not been fully explored yet. Previously, Kline and co-workers reported on the synthesis of acetylated 4-azido-arabinose phosphate and uridine diphosphate (UDP) derivatives. In addition, a 4-aminophosphoamidate UDP derivative was also obtained [8]. Whereas these compounds

Bacterial terpene biosynthesis: challenges and opportunities for pathway engineering

• Eric J. N. Helfrich,
• Geng-Min Lin,
• Christopher A. Voigt and
• Jon Clardy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2889–2906, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.283

• diphosphate (FPP, 9) or geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP, 10, Figure 5a) [11][53]. Upon binding of the precursor, the TC undergoes conformational changes to seal the hydrophobic binding pocket [54]. This induced-fit mechanism locks the acyclic precursor into a defined, preorganized conformation that positions

• hosts, many E. coli hosts have been engineered to increase precursor supply, provide redox partners for CYP enzymes, and overproduce oligoprenyl diphosphate. As is the case for other natural product classes, off-target effects of heterologous host enzymes have been reported to alter terpenoid structures

• [116]. In some cases, bacterial TCs are able to accept oligoprenyl diphosphates with different lengths. Spata-13,17-diene (39) synthase is an extreme example that can convert FPP (9), GGPP (10), and geranylfarnesyl diphosphate (GFPP, 11) into sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, and sesterterpenes, respectively

Emission and biosynthesis of volatile terpenoids from the plasmodial slime mold Physarum polycephalum

• Xinlu Chen,
• Tobias G. Köllner,
• Wangdan Xiong,
• Guo Wei and
• Feng Chen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2872–2880, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.281

• PpolyTPS4 were able to produce sesquiterpenes and monoterpenes from the respective substrates farnesyl diphosphate and geranyl diphosphate. By comparing the volatile profile of P. polycephalum plasmodia and the in vitro products of PpolyTPS1 and PpolyTPS4, it was concluded that most sesquiterpenoids emitted

• diverse VOCs, terpenoids are the largest group. Terpenoids are biosynthesized from two C5 diphosphate compounds isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and its isomer dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP), which are produced by either the mevalonate (MVA) pathway or the methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway [9][10

• ]. The MVA pathway is found in eukaryotes, archaea, and a few bacteria, and the MEP pathway is present in several photosynthetic eukaryotes and bacteria [11]. Isoprenyl diphosphate synthases (IDSs) catalyze the formation of prenyl diphosphates of various chain length [12]. After that, terpene synthases

Nanangenines: drimane sesquiterpenoids as the dominant metabolite cohort of a novel Australian fungus, Aspergillus nanangensis

• Heather J. Lacey,
• Cameron L. M. Gilchrist,
• Andrew Crombie,
• John A. Kalaitzis,
• Daniel Vuong,
• Peter J. Rutledge,
• Peter Turner,
• John I. Pitt,
• Ernest Lacey,
• Yit-Heng Chooi and
• Andrew M. Piggott

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2631–2643, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.256

• -type sesquiterpenoids from farnesyl diphosphate is proposed to proceed via the protonation-initiated mechanism (class II terpene synthases) [24], which is distinct from the ionisation-initiated mechanism (class I) terpene synthases, where a carbocation is generated by the release of a diphosphate group

• FE257_006542 contains both class I (DDxxD/E) and class II (DxDD, QW) terpene synthases, we propose that FE257_006542 is responsible for both the cyclisation into drimanyl diphosphate and the hydrolysis of the diphosphate into drim-8-ene-11-ol. We propose the next step in the pathway is hydroxylation at C-6 or

Current understanding and biotechnological application of the bacterial diterpene synthase CotB2

• Ronja Driller,
• Daniel Garbe,
• Norbert Mehlmer,
• Monika Fuchs,
• Keren Raz,
• Dan Thomas Major,
• Thomas Brück and
• Bernhard Loll

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2355–2368, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.228

• CotB2 from the open, inactive, to the closed, active conformation have been obtained in great detail, allowing us to draw detailed conclusions regarding the catalytic mechanism at the molecular level. Moreover, numerous alternative geranylgeranyl diphosphate cyclization products obtained by CotB2

• will focus particularly on bacterial diterpene synthases, in context with other sesqui- and ditperpene synthases of bacterial, fungal and plant origin. The initial step in diterpene biosynthesis (Figure 1) is the incremental condensation of dimethylallyl diphosphate (1) and isopentylen diphosphate (2

• ) [12] to the acyclic terpene synthase substrate geranylgeranyl diphosphate 3 (GGDP) [1][13][14][15][16]. Following initial substrate binding and folding in a product-like conformation, the cyclization reaction can be subdivided into three steps: (1) generation of a reactive allyl carbocation as a

Harnessing enzyme plasticity for the synthesis of oxygenated sesquiterpenoids

• Melodi Demiray,
• David J. Miller and
• Rudolf K. Allemann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2184–2190, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.215

• engineering; terpenes; Introduction Amorphadiene synthase (ADS) from Artemisia annua is a key enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of the antimalarial sesquiterpene drug artemisinin (1) [1][2][3][4]. ADS catalyses the Mg2+-dependent conversion of farnesyl diphosphate (FDP, 2) to amorpha-4,11-diene (3) with

• high regio- and stereochemical control (Scheme 1) [5][6][7]. The carbocationic reaction mechanism of ADS involves an isomerisation to nerolidyl diphosphate (NDP, 4) followed by breakage of the carbon–oxygen bond to generate the allylic cation 5. This allows rotation around the C2–C3 bond and 1,6-ring

• exposing (E)-β-farnesene synthase to diphosphate 11 (Supporting Information File 1). Further support for the structure of the minor product came from the excellent agreement of the diagnostic 1H NMR signals of 21 (H1 (δH = 5.25, d, JH,H = 17.5 Hz), H1’ (δH = 5.06, d, JH,H = 11.0 Hz), H2 (δH = 6.38, dd, JH

Genome mining in Trichoderma viride J1-030: discovery and identification of novel sesquiterpene synthase and its products

• Xiang Sun,
• You-Sheng Cai,
• Yujie Yuan,
• Guangkai Bian,
• Ziling Ye,
• Zixin Deng and
• Tiangang Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2052–2058, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.202

• synthases in Trichoderma viride have been seldom studied, despite the efficiency of filamentous fungi for terpenoid production. Using the farnesyl diphosphate-overexpressing Saccharomyces cerevisiae platform to produce diverse terpenoids, we herein identified an unknown sesquiterpene synthase from T. viride

• three types based on their amino acid sequence. Type I TPSs are metal-dependent enzymes that initiate cyclisation by the elimination of diphosphate groups from precursors and carbocation formation, and type II TPSs initiate the catalytic process by the protonation of an olefinic double bond [7]. The

• recently reported type III TPSs, UbiA-related TPSs, also catalyse cascade reactions by diphosphate elimination [8]. In addition, each type of TPS is characterised by a unique aspartate-rich motif; most type I TPSs have a DDXXD/E motif and an NSE/DTE motif, whereas type II TPSs have the DXDD motif [9][10

Inherent atomic mobility changes in carbocation intermediates during the sesterterpene cyclization cascade

• Hajime Sato,
• Takaaki Mitsuhashi,
• Mami Yamazaki,
• Ikuro Abe and
• Masanobu Uchiyama

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1890–1897, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.184

• intermediates, which reflect the initial conformation of the substrate, geranylfarnesyl diphosphate (GFPP). However, it remains unclear how the initial conformation of GFPP is controlled, and which part(s) of the GFPP molecule are important for its fixation inside the substrate-binding pocket. Here, we present

• terpene cyclase active site [3][5][6]. Although many terpene cyclases are known [6][7][8][9][10], it is still challenging to identify the precise initial conformation of the oligoprenyl diphosphate substrate in the active site, even by X-ray crystal structure determination. This is because the substrate

• diphosphate, IM: intermediate. Quiannulatene is formed by the deprotonation of IM11. Phase (I): 5/12/5 tricycle formation is highlighted in blue. Phase (II): conformational changes and hydrogen shifts are highlighted in orange. Phase (III): ring rearrangements are highlighted in yellow. Reaction mechanisms of

Molecular basis for the plasticity of aromatic prenyltransferases in hapalindole biosynthesis

• Takayoshi Awakawa and
• Ikuro Abe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1545–1551, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.157

• ; prenyltransferase; Introduction Aromatic prenyltransferases (PTases) catalyze Friedel–Crafts reactions between aromatic prenyl acceptors and isoprenoid diphosphate prenyl donors to construct C–C, C–O, or C–N bonds, which enrich the structural diversity of aromatic natural products [1][2]. Their reactions are

• divided into two types, depending on where the cation is generated in the isoprenoid diphosphate: the “normal” prenylation in which the C-1 is attacked and the “reverse” prenylation in which the C-3 is attacked (Figure 1). It is important to study prenylation types for the chemoenzymatic synthesis of

• compounds, including dihydroxynaphthalenes, flavonoids, and resorcinols as prenyl acceptors, and C10 geranyl diphosphate (GPP) as a prenyl donor, to generate a variety of O- or C-prenylated aromatic compounds [4][10]. Some PTases accept multiple lengths of isoprenoid diphosphates, as exemplified by the ABBA

Phylogenomic analyses and distribution of terpene synthases among Streptomyces

• Lara Martín-Sánchez,
• Kumar Saurabh Singh,
• Mariana Avalos,
• Gilles P. van Wezel,
• Jeroen S. Dickschat and
• Paolina Garbeva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1181–1193, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.115

• depends on the precursors that these synthases can accommodate: geranyl diphosphate (monoterpenes, C10), farnesyl diphosphate (sesquiterpenes, C15) and geranylgeranyl diphosphate (diterpenes, C20). The biological function of terpenes is best studied for plants where they play important roles in

Mechanistic investigations on multiproduct β-himachalene synthase from Cryptosporangium arvum

• Jan Rinkel and
• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1008–1019, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.99

• diphosphate. In-depth mechanistic investigations using isotopically labelled precursors regarding the stereochemical course of both 1,11-cyclisation and 1,3-hydride shift furnished a detailed catalytic model suggesting the molecular basis of the observed low product selectivity. The enzyme’s synthetic

• functional characterisation (Table S1, Supporting Information File 1). The purified recombinant protein (Figure S3, Supporting Information File 1) was incubated with the common TS substrates geranyl- (GPP, C10), farnesyl- (FPP, C15), geranylgeranyl- (GGPP, C20) and geranylfarnesyl (GFPP, C25) diphosphate

• . Whereas the latter diphosphate did not lead to any terpene product, the incubation with FPP showed a smooth conversion into several sesquiterpenes (Figure 1A) with compound 1 as the major peak after GC–MS analysis. However, also the incubations with GPP (Figure 1B) and GGPP (Figure 1C) led to several less

Stereochemical investigations on the biosynthesis of achiral (Z)-γ-bisabolene in Cryptosporangium arvum

• Jan Rinkel and
• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 789–794, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.75

• sesquiterpene. Since the stereoinformation of both chiral putative intermediates, nerolidyl diphosphate (NPP) and the bisabolyl cation, is lost during formation of the achiral product, the intriguing question of their absolute configurations was addressed by incubating both enantiomers of NPP with the

• ; carbocation chemistry; enzyme mechanisms; nerolidyl diphosphate; terpenes; Introduction Given the enormous impact of chirality within biomolecules for all forms of life, it is fascinating to see how nature is able to maintain and reproduce stereochemical information. This concept largely involves the

• providing a defined cavity including its molecular coating together with binding and activation of the diphosphate (OPP) moiety, these enzymes convert simple achiral oligoprenyl diphosphates into often complex, polycyclic hydrocarbons or alcohols with introduction of multiple stereocentres in just one

Computational characterization of enzyme-bound thiamin diphosphate reveals a surprisingly stable tricyclic state: implications for catalysis

• Ferran Planas,
• Michael J. McLeish and
• Fahmi Himo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 145–159, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.15

• Abstract Thiamin diphosphate (ThDP)-dependent enzymes constitute a large class of enzymes that catalyze a diverse range of reactions. Many are involved in stereospecific carbon–carbon bond formation and, consequently, have found increasing interest and utility as chiral catalysts in various biocatalytic

• . Keywords: binding site; DFT; enzyme mechanism; quantum chemical calculations; ThDP-dependent; Introduction Enzymes that depend on thiamin diphosphate (ThDP, Scheme 1) can be found in a wide range of metabolic pathways. Although they are known to catalyze the formation of C–N, C–O and C–S bonds, ThDP

• has been observed on at least two ThDP-dependent enzymes. Dihydrothiachromine diphosphate (TC) was observed in the X-ray structure of phosphoketolase from Bifidobacterium breve [46], and its hydroxyethyl derivative was identified in the structure of acetolactate synthase from Klebsiella pneumoniae

Synthesis of new p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene-based polyammonium triazolyl amphiphiles and their binding with nucleoside phosphates

• Vladimir A. Burilov,
• Guzaliya A. Fatikhova,
• Mariya N. Dokuchaeva,
• Ramil I. Nugmanov,
• Diana A. Mironova,
• Pavel V. Dorovatovskii,
• Victor N. Khrustalev,
• Svetlana E. Solovieva and
• Igor S. Antipin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1980–1993, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.173

• for nucleotides sensing through a dye replacement procedure. It is unusual that disubstituted macrocycles 10a,b bind more effectively a less charged adenosine 5'-diphosphate (ADP) than adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP). A simple colorimetric method based on polydiacetylene vesicles decorated with 10b

• are very important as a universal energy source and as intracellular mediators in many biological processes [6]. In the cellular metabolism, adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) is hydrolyzed to adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP) or adenosine 5'-diphosphate (ADP) by enzymes [7]. Thus, the receptors for

• this reason the triphosphate fragment is rotated by ≈60° around the calixarene axis relative to the diphosphate position (Figure 4b and d). This leads to a weakening of the host–guest binding and to a decrease of ATP complex energy by 1.4 kcal/mol compared to ADP. So the ADP/ATP optical responses for

Mechanochemistry of nucleosides, nucleotides and related materials

• Olga Eguaogie,
• Joseph S. Vyle,
• Patrick F. Conlon,
• Manuela A. Gîlea and
• Yipei Liang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 955–970, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.81

• ) and adenosine diphosphate ribose (ADPR) was also described. Subsequently, this methodology was applied to the preparation of a library of six ADPR carbonate derivatives in 23–68% yields (e.g., Scheme 14) and tested as sirtuin inhibitors [54]. The efficiency of phosphate coupling under mechanochemical

On the design principles of peptide–drug conjugates for targeted drug delivery to the malignant tumor site

• Eirinaios I. Vrettos,
• Gábor Mező and
• Andreas G. Tzakos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 930–954, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.80

• kinases. Gemcitabine diphosphate (dFdCDP) and gemcitabine triphosphate (dFdCTP) are the active metabolites which inhibit processes required for DNA synthesis [91]. The incorporation of dFdCTP into DNA during polymerization, which causes DNA polymerases unable to proceed, is the major mechanism by which

Volatiles from three genome sequenced fungi from the genus Aspergillus

• Jeroen S. Dickschat,
• Ersin Celik and
• Nelson L. Brock

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 900–910, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.77

• geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP) to copalyl diphosphate (CPP) by a class II TS, followed by a second cyclisation event by a class I TS [32]. These reactions are likely catalysed by the only corresponding two-domain enzyme encoded in the A. fischeri genome (accession number XP_001264196, locus tag NFIA_009790

• ). A phylogenetic analysis of 878 fungal terpene synthase homologs (Figure S1 in Supporting Information File 1) demonstrates that this enzyme is closely related to the bifunctional ent-copalyl diphosphate synthase/ent-kaurene synthase from Fusarium fujikuroi [33]. The N-terminal domain shows the DXDD

• -sesquiphellandrene (8), ar-curcumene (9), β-bisabolene (10), (E)-γ-bisabolene (11), trans-α-bergamotene (12), δ-cuprenene (13), and cuparene (14). All these sesquiterpenes arise through a 1,6-cyclisation of farnesyl diphosphate (FPP, via nerolidyl diphosphate, NPP) to the bisabolyl cation (A, Scheme 2). A mixture of

Synthetic and semi-synthetic approaches to unprotected N-glycan oxazolines

• Antony J. Fairbanks

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 416–429, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.30

• protecting groups revealed the 6-hydroxy groups of the terminal mannose residues, which were then phosphorylated. Removal of the anomeric PMP protection was followed by global deprotection by Birch reduction to give the completely deprotected tetrasaccharide diphosphate. Finally treatment with DMC in water

Aminosugar-based immunomodulator lipid A: synthetic approaches

• Alla Zamyatina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 25–53, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.3

• hydroxyl group was regio- and stereoselectively phosphorylated using tetrabenzyl diphosphate in the presence of lithium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide [76] to provide glycosyl phosphotriester as exclusively α-anomer. Global deprotection was accomplished by catalytic hydrogenolysis over Pd-black to give

Synthetic mRNA capping

• Fabian Muttach,
• Nils Muthmann and
• Andrea Rentmeister

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2819–2832, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.274

• of cap0 comprises three consecutive reactions targeted to nascent 5′-triphosphorylated pre-mRNAs (Figure 1). First, a 5′-triphosphatase (TPase) hydrolyzes the γ-phosphate of pre-mRNA. Next, the β-phosphate of the resulting 5′-diphosphate end is coupled to GMP to form 5′–5′-linked Gppp-RNA. The

• can be transferred onto the diphosphate end of an RNA transcript to form a ribavirin-pppN structure. RNA transcripts blocked with ribavirin showed little translational efficiency, which might explain the antiviral activity of ribavirin [44]. Enzymatic formation of cap analogues from GTP analogues was

• transferred onto a 5′-diphosphate RNA (Figure 2). Moreover, RNAs capped with those nucleotide analogues were translated even in the absence of the N7-methyl group when alternative modifications enabled binding to eIF4E [45]. Co-transcriptional capping In co-transcriptional capping, cap analogues are added

Herpetopanone, a diterpene from Herpetosiphon aurantiacus discovered by isotope labeling

• Xinli Pan,
• Nicole Domin,
• Sebastian Schieferdecker,
• Hirokazu Kage,
• Martin Roth and
• Markus Nett

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2458–2465, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.242

• terpenoids in their natural bacterial hosts, which is based on the feeding of isotopically labeled glucose. The linear oligoprenyl units, which constitute the carbon backbones of terpenoids, arise from the condensation of activated isoprene units, namely isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl

• diphosphate (DMAPP). The latter two precursors are synthesized by either the mevalonate (MEV) or methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway [7]. Both the MEV and MEP pathway branch from glycolysis. Depending on the respective route, the metabolism of singly labeled glucose gives rise to a characteristic carbon

• includes α-cadinol, originates from germacrene D [7][23]. In the case of 1, an analogous pathway can be postulated, which is depicted in Figure 4. The biosynthesis would hence start with geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP). Upon ionization, the double bond nearest the diphosphate can adopt a Z

18-Hydroxydolabella-3,7-diene synthase – a diterpene synthase from Chitinophaga pinensis

• Jeroen S. Dickschat,
• Jan Rinkel,
• Patrick Rabe,
• Arman Beyraghdar Kashkooli and
• Harro J. Bouwmeester

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1770–1780, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.171

• ) and the NSE triad NDXXSXX(R,K)(E,D), modified to a DTE triad in plants, for binding of the Mg2+ cofactor that forms a trinuclear (Mg2+)3 cluster to which the diphosphate portion of the substrate binds. Upon substrate binding the active site closes, resulting in hydrogen bonds between the substrate’s

• diphosphate and the pyrophosphate sensor, a highly conserved arginine located 43 amino acids upstream of the NSE triad, and the RY dimer, a highly conserved motif at the C-terminus. The substrate is ionised by extrusion of diphosphate, yielding a highly reactive allyl cation that can react in a cyclisation

• (−)-bornyl diphosphate synthases from the plants Salvia officinalis and Tanacetum vulgare forming a more polar product by the unusual termination via reattack of diphosphate [1], the trichodiene synthase from the fungus Trichothecium roseum [2], and pentalenene synthase from Streptomyces exfoliatus [3