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The red seaweeds belonging to the genus Laurencia are well known as halogenated secondary metabolites producers, mainly terpenoids and acetogennins. Several of these chemicals exhibit important ecological roles and biotechnological applications. However, knowledge regarding the genes involved in the biosynthesis of these compounds is still very limited. We detected 20 different genes involved in the biosynthesis of terpenoid precursors, and 21 different genes coding for terpene synthases that are responsible for the chemical modifications of the terpenoid precursors, resulting in a high diversity of carbon chemical skeletons. In addition, we demonstrate through molecular and cytochemical approaches the occurrence of the mevalonate pathway involved in the biosynthesis of terpenes in L. dendroidea. This is the first report on terpene synthase genes in seaweeds, enabling further studies on possible heterologous biosynthesis of terpenes from L. dendroidea exhibiting ecological or biotechnological interest.
Oliveira et al. (Tue,) studied this question.