The Taxus genome provides insights into paclitaxel biosynthesis

作者：Xingyao Xiong, Junbo Gou, Qinggang Liao, Yanlin Li, Qian Zhou, Guiqi Bi, Chong Li, Ran Du, Xiao-Tong Wang, T. Sun, Lvjun Guo, Haifei Liang, Pengjun Lu, Yaoyao Wu, Zhonghua Zhang, D. Ro, Y. Shang, Sanwen Huang, Jianbin Yan · 发表于：Nature Plants · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.1038/s41477-021-00963-5 · 被引用次数：198 · 研究领域：Biology、Medicine

The ancient gymnosperm genus Taxus is the exclusive source of the anticancer drug paclitaxel, yet no reference genome sequences are available for comprehensively elucidating the paclitaxel biosynthesis pathway. We have completed a chromosome-level genome of Taxus chinensis var. mairei with a total length of 10.23 gigabases. Taxus shared an ancestral whole-genome duplication with the coniferophyte lineage and underwent distinct transposon evolution. We discovered a unique physical and functional grouping of CYP725As (cytochrome P450) in the Taxus genome for paclitaxel biosynthesis. We also identified a gene cluster for taxadiene biosynthesis, which was formed mainly by gene duplications. This study will facilitate the elucidation of paclitaxel biosynthesis and unleash the biotechnological potential of Taxus. A high-quality Taxus genome provides insight into the genome evolution of the Taxus genus and the biosynthesis of paclitaxel.