title: Current and emerging options for taxol production.
abstract: Paclitaxel (trademark "Taxol") is a plant-derived isoprenoid natural product that exhibits potent anticancer activity. Taxol was originally isolated from the Pacific yew tree in 1967 and triggered an intense scientific and engineering venture to provide the compound reliably to cancer patients. The choices available for production include synthetic and biosynthetic routes (and combinations thereof). This chapter focuses on the currently utilized and emerging biosynthetic options for Taxol production. A particular emphasis is placed on the biosynthetic production hosts including macroscopic and unicellular plant species and more recent attempts to elucidate, transfer, and reconstitute the Taxol pathway within technically advanced microbial hosts. In so doing, we provide the reader with relevant background related to Taxol and more general information related to producing valuable, but structurally complex, natural products through biosynthetic strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Guojian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Blaine A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Pfeifer
mesh_terms: D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods*; D015195:Drug Design; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism; D005658:Fungi / Q000378:metabolism; D060847:Metabolic Engineering / Q000379:methods; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts; D017239:Paclitaxel