Biological Synthesis of 7-O-Methyl Apigenin from Naringenin Using Escherichia coli Expressing Two Genes

Within the secondary metabolite class of flavonoids, which consist of more than 10,000 known structures, flavones define one of the largest subgroups. The diverse function of flavones in plants as well as their various roles in the interaction with other organisms offers many potential applications including in human nutrition and pharmacology. We used two genes, flavone synthase (PFNS-1) that converts naringenin into apigenin and a flavone 7-O-methyltransferase gene (POMT-7) that converts apigenin into 7-O-methyl apigenin, to synthesize 7-O-methyl apigenenin from naringenin. The PFNS-1 gene was subcloned into the E. coli expression vector pGEX and POMT-7 was subcloned into the pRSF vector. Since both constructs contain different replication origins and selection markers, they were cotransformed into E. coli. Using E. coli transformants harboring both PFNS-1 and POMT-7, naringenin could be converted into 7-O-methyl apigenin, genkwanin.