title: Production of taxa-4(5),11(12)-diene by transgenic Physcomitrella patens.
abstract: Taxadiene synthase gene from Taxus brevifolia was constitutively expressed in the moss Physcomitrella patens using a ubiquitin promoter to produce taxa-4(5),11(12)-diene, the precursor of the anticancer drug paclitaxel. In stable moss transformants, taxa-4(5),11(12)-diene was produced up to 0.05% fresh weight of tissue, without significantly affecting the amounts of the endogenous diterpenoids (ent-kaurene and 16-hydroxykaurane). Unlike higher plants that had been genetically modified to produce taxa-4(5),11(12)-diene, transgenic P. patens did not exhibit growth inhibition due to alteration of diterpenoid metabolic pools. Thus we propose that P. patens is a promising alternative host for the biotechnological production of paclitaxel and its precursors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA. anterola@siu.edu
authors.forename: Aldwin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anterola
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shanle
authors.forename: Pierre-François
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Perroud
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Quatrano
mesh_terms: D000475:Alkenes / Q000378:metabolism*; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D019068:Bryopsida / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004224:Diterpenes / Q000378:metabolism*; D007535:Isomerases / Q000235:genetics*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020946:Taxus / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000475:Alkenes; D004224:Diterpenes; C093125:taxa-4(5),11(12)diene; D007535:Isomerases; C095926:taxa-4(5),11(12)-diene synthase