Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39508515›Full record

ArticleAngewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)2025

Biosynthetic Origin of the Methoxy Group in Quinine and Related Alkaloids.

Blaise Kimbadi Lombe, Tingan Zhou, Lorenzo Caputi, Kerstin Ploss, Sarah E O'Connor

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Cinchona alkaloid scaffold decoded.Plant communications · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. How Cinchona builds quinine.Nature chemical biology · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Review
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Blaise Kimbadi LombeDepartment of Natural Product Biosynthesis, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745, Jena, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4298-3108
Tingan ZhouDepartment of Natural Product Biosynthesis, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745, Jena, Germany.
Lorenzo CaputiDepartment of Natural Product Biosynthesis, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745, Jena, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7783-6733
Kerstin PlossDepartment of Natural Product Biosynthesis, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745, Jena, Germany.
Sarah E O'ConnorDepartment of Natural Product Biosynthesis, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745, Jena, Germany.

Funding

Multi-omics approaches to lower the barriers to sustainable production of plant natural products with relevance to human healthR01AT012783 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · PI Carol Robin Buell · 2024 to 2026
$1.5M
Foundation for the National Institutes of Health R01-AT012783-G2Max-Planck-GesellschaftNCCIH NIH HHS R01 AT012783
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Quinine is a historically important natural product containing a methoxy group that has been assumed to be incorporated at a late pathway stage. Here we show that the methoxy group in quinine and related alkaloids is introduced onto the starting substrate tryptamine. Feeding studies definitively show that 5-methoxytryptamine is utilized as a quinine biosynthetic intermediate in planta. We discover the biosynthetic genes that encode the responsible oxidase and methyltransferase, and we use these genes to reconstitute the early steps of the alkaloid biosynthetic pathway in Nicotiana benthamiana to produce a mixture of methoxylated and non-methoxylated alkaloid intermediates. Importantly, we show that the co-occurrence of both tryptamine and 5-methoxytryptamine substrates, along with the substrate promiscuity of downstream pathway enzymes, enable parallel formation of both methoxylated and non-methoxylated alkaloids.

Indexed as

AlkaloidsQuinineBiosynthetic PathwaysMethyltransferasesMolecular StructureNicotianaTryptaminesAlkaloidsMethyltransferasesQuininetryptamineTryptaminesalkaloidsbiosynthesisCinchonagenes discoveryQuinine

Identifiers

PMID39508515
PMCPMC12441185

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.