Structural and mechanistic analysis of engineered trichodiene synthase enzymes from Trichoderma harzianum : towards higher catalytic activities empowering sustainable agriculture

The beneficial activities of the fungus Trichoderma spp . are attributed to their ability to produce and secrete certain secondary metabolites such as trichodermin that belongs to trichothecene family of molecules. The initial steps of trichodermin biosynthetic pathway in Trichoderma are similar to the trichothecenes from Fusarium sporotrichioides .

Trichodiene synthase (TS) encoded by tri5 gene in Trichoderma catalyses the conversion of farnesyl pyrophosphate to trichodiene as reported earlier. In this study, we have carried out a comprehensive comparative sequence and structural analysis of the TS, which revealed the conserved residues involved in catalytic activity of the protein. In silico , modelled tertiary structure of TS protein showed stable structural behaviour during simulations.