A scaffold protein manages the biosynthesis of steroidal defense metabolites in plants

Solanaceae plants produce two major classes of valuable sterol derived natural products—steroidal glycoalkaloids and steroidal saponins—from a common cholesterol precursor. Attempts to heterologously produce these molecules have consistently failed, although the genes responsible for each biosynthetic step have been identified. Here we identify a cellulose synthase like protein, an unexpected biosynthetic component that interacts with the early pathway enzymes, enabling steroidal scaffolds production in plants. Moreover, knockout of this gene in black nightshade, Solanum nigrum resulted in plants lacking both steroidal alkaloids and saponins. Unexpectedly, these knockout plants also revealed that steroidal saponins deter serious agricultural insect pests. This discovery provides the missing link to engineer these high value steroidal molecules, and also pinpoints the ecological role for the steroidal saponins.