Biosynthesis of the highly oxygenated tetracyclic core skeleton of Taxol

Chengshuai Yang, Yan Wang, Zhen Su, Lunyi Xiong, Pingping Wang, Wen Lei, Xing Yan (), Dawei Ma (), Guoping Zhao () and Zhihua Zhou ()
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Chengshuai Yang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yan Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhen Su: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lunyi Xiong: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Pingping Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wen Lei: Shanghai Research Institute of Chemical Industry
Xing Yan: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Dawei Ma: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Guoping Zhao: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhihua Zhou: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Taxol is a widely-applied anticancer drug that inhibits microtubule dynamics in actively replicating cells. Although a minimum 19-step biosynthetic pathway has been proposed and 16 enzymes likely involved have been characterized, stepwise biosynthetic reactions from the well-characterized di-oxygenated taxoids to Taxol tetracyclic core skeleton are yet to be elucidated. Here, we uncover the biosynthetic pathways for a few tri-oxygenated taxoids via confirming the critical reaction order of the second and third hydroxylation steps, unearth a taxoid 9α-hydroxylase catalyzing the fourth hydroxylation, and identify CYP725A55 catalyzing the oxetane ester formation via a cascade oxidation-concerted acyl rearrangement mechanism. After identifying a acetyltransferase catalyzing the formation of C7-OAc, the pathway producing the highly-oxygenated 1β-dehydroxybaccatin VI with the Taxol tetracyclic core skeleton is elucidated and its complete biosynthesis from taxa-4(20),11(12)-diene-5α-ol is achieved in an engineered yeast. These systematic studies lay the foundation for the complete elucidation of the biosynthetic pathway of Taxol.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46583-3

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