Recent advances in biosynthetic pathway and synthetic biology of taxol

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.

Transcription level differences in Taxus wallichiana var. mairei elicited by Ce3+, Ce4+ and methyl jasmonate

“…At present, taxol production still depends on natural bark extraction or semi-synthesis of taxus extraction precursors such as baccatin III ( Mutanda et al., 2021 ). Paclitaxel drug has been in short supply for a long time and the price is high, so developing a biosynthesis method with low cost and high yield is particularly important ( Wang et al., 2013 ; Kuang et al., 2016 ). The basic framework of taxol biosynthesis pathway had been established, and most of the enzymes involved in the synthesis had been cloned ( Kuang et al., 2016 ).…”

“…Paclitaxel drug has been in short supply for a long time and the price is high, so developing a biosynthesis method with low cost and high yield is particularly important ( Wang et al., 2013 ; Kuang et al., 2016 ). The basic framework of taxol biosynthesis pathway had been established, and most of the enzymes involved in the synthesis had been cloned ( Kuang et al., 2016 ). However, the biosynthesis pathway of taxol is unclear.…”