Recent advances in biosynthetic pathway and synthetic biology of taxol.

Author: Xue-Jun KUANG ¹ ; Cai-Xia WANG ² ; Li-Qiu ZOU ¹ ; Ying LI ² ; Chao SUN ¹
Author Information

1. Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, China Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China.
2. Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: biosynthetic pathway; synthetic biology; taxol
From: China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica 2016;41(22):4144-4149
CountryChina
Language:Chinese
Abstract: Taxol, a kind of terpenoid secondary metabolite produced by Taxus brevifolia, is an effective anticancer drug that manufacture relies mainly on the extraction form plants. In order to solve the resource shortage, a lot of work has been done to develop the alternative method. Recently, using synthetic biology to realize heterologous biosynthesis of the precursors of taxol has become a hotspot. Now, the basic framework of taxol biosynthetic pathways has been confirmed, and most enzyme genes involved in taxol biosynthesis have been cloned and identified. The two taxol precursors, taxa-4(5),11(12)-diene and taxa-4(20),11(12)-dien-5α-ol, have been synthesized in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here this paper reviewed the recent advances in the biosynthetic pathway of taxol and the latest developments of synthetic biology, which aims to provide a guidance for the heterologous biosynthesis of taxol.