In vitro reconstruction and analysis of evolutionary variation of the tomato acylsucrose metabolic network

Throughout the course of human history, plant-derived natural products have been used in medicines, in cooking, as pest control agents, and in rituals of cultural importance. Plants produce rapidly diversifying specialized metabolites as protective agents and to mediate interactions with beneficial organisms. In vitro reconstruction of the cultivated tomato insect protective acylsucrose biosynthetic network showed that four acyltransferase enzymes are sufficient to produce the full set of naturally occurring compounds. This system enabled identification of simple changes in enzyme structure leading to much of the acylsucrose diversity produced in epidermal trichomes of wild tomato. These findings will enable analysis of trichome specialized metabolites throughout the Solanaceae and demonstrate the feasibility of engineering these metabolites in plants and microorganisms.