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Sesterterpenoids are a group of terpenoid natural products that are primarily biosynthesized via cyclization of the C25 linear substrate geranylfarnesyl pyrophosphate (GFPP). Although the long carbon chain of GFPP in theory allows for many different cyclization patterns, sesterterpenoids are relatively rare species among terpenoids, suggesting that many intriguing sesterterpenoid scaffolds have been overlooked. Meanwhile, the recent identification of the first sesterterpene synthase has allowed the discovery of new sesterterpenoids by the genome mining approach. In this study, we characterized the unusual fungal sesterterpene synthase EvQS and successfully obtained the sesterterpene quiannulatene (1) with a novel and unique highly congested carbon skeleton, which is further oxidized to quiannulatic acid (2) by the cytochrome P450 Qnn-P450. A mechanistic study of its cyclization from GFPP indicated that the biosynthesis employs an unprecedented cyclization mode, which involves three rounds of hydride shifts and two successive C-C bond migrations to construct the 5-6-5-5-5 fused ring system of 1.

Paraherquonin (1), a fungal meroterpenoid produced by Penicillium brasilianum NBRC 6234, possesses a unique, highly congested hexacyclic molecular architecture. Here we identified the biosynthetic gene cluster of 1 (the prh cluster) and elucidated the pathway up to berkeleydione (2), which serves as the key intermediate for the biosynthesis of 1 as well as many other meroterpenoids. Interestingly, the nonheme iron and α-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase PrhA constructs the cycloheptadiene moiety to afford 2 from preaustinoid A1 (6), probably via the homoallyl-homoallyl radical rearrangement. Additionally, another fungal strain, P. brasilianum MG11, which produces acetoxydehydroaustin instead of 1, was found to have a gene cluster nearly identical to the prh cluster. The dioxygenase encoded by the cluster shares 92% sequence identity with PrhA, and also accepts 6 but produces preaustinoid A3 (17) with a spiro-lactone system, generating a diverging point for the two different meroterpenoid pathways in the same species.

Ascidians belonging to the suborder Phlebobranchia are known to accumulate high levels of a transition metal, vanadium, in their blood cells, called vanadocytes, although the mechanism for this biological phenomenon remains unclear. Recently, we identified vanadium(IV)-binding proteins, designated as Vanabins, from vanadium-accumulating ascidians. Here, we report the first 3D structure of Vanabin2 from an ascidian, Ascidia sydneiensis samea, in an aqueous solution. The structure revealed a novel bow-shaped conformation, with four alpha-helices connected by nine disulfide bonds. There are no structural homologues reported so far. The 15N heteronuclear single-quantum coherence (HSQC) perturbation experiments of Vanabin2 indicated that vanadyl cations, which are exclusively localized on the same face of the molecule, are coordinated by amine nitrogens derived from amino acid residues such as lysines, arginines, and histidines, as suggested by the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) results. The present NMR studies provide information that will contribute toward elucidating the mechanism of vanadium accumulation in ascidians.