TY - JOUR T1 - Function of the HYDROXYCINNAMOYL-CoA:SHIKIMATE HYDROXYCINNAMOYL TRANSFERASE is evolutionarily conserved in embryophytes JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2020.09.16.300285 SP - 2020.09.16.300285 AU - Lucie Kriegshauser AU - Samuel Knosp AU - Etienne Grienenberger AU - Desirée D. Gütle AU - Iben Sørensen AU - Laurence Herrgott AU - Julie Zumsteg AU - Jocelyn K.C. Rose AU - Ralf Reski AU - Danièle Werck-Reichhart AU - Hugues Renault Y1 - 2020/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/09/18/2020.09.16.300285.abstract N2 - The plant phenylpropanoid pathway generates a major class of specialized metabolites and precursors of essential extracellular polymers that initially appeared upon plant terrestrialization. Despite its evolutionary significance, little is known about the complexity and function of this major metabolic pathway in extant bryophytes, the ancestors of which were the first land plants. Here, we report that the HYDROXYCINNAMOYL-CoA:SHIKIMATE HYDROXYCINNAMOYL TRANSFERASE (HCT) gene, which plays a critical function in the phenylpropanoid pathway during seed plant development, is functionally conserved in Physcomitrium (Physcomitrella) patens, in the moss lineage of bryophytes. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that bona fide HCT function emerged in the progenitor of embryophytes. In vitro enzyme assays, moss phenolic pathway reconstitution in yeast and in planta gene inactivation coupled to targeted metabolic profiling collectively indicate that P. patens HCT (PpHCT), similar to tracheophyte HCT orthologs, uses shikimate as a native acyl acceptor to produce a p-coumaroyl-5-O-shikimate intermediate. Phenotypic and metabolic analyses of loss-of-function mutants show that PpHCT is necessary for the production of caffeate derivatives, including previously reported caffeoyl-threonate esters, and for the formation of an intact cuticle. Deep conservation of HCT function in embryophytes is further suggested by the ability of HCT genes from P. patens and the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha to complement an Arabidopsis thaliana CRISPR/Cas9 hct mutant, and by the presence of phenolic esters of shikimate in representative species of the three major bryophyte lineages.One sentence summary Multidisciplinary study of the HYDROXYCINNAMOYL-CoA:SHIKIMATE HYDROXYCINNAMOYL TRANSFERASE (HCT) gene in Physcomitrium (Physcomitrella) patens points to its functional conservation in embryophytes. ER -