naa a22 4500 510759475 CHVBK 20180411083134.0 cr unu---uuuuu 180411e20130501xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s13225-013-0228-7 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s13225-013-0228-7 Getting to the bottom of Taxol biosynthesis by fungi [Elektronische Daten] [Uwe Heinig, Susanne Scholz, Stefan Jennewein] Taxol (paclitaxel) is a highly-oxygenated diterpenoid natural product first isolated from the pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia). It is one of the most widely used anticancer drugs. Soon after the discovery of its unique mode of action and the resulting high demand, an extensive search was initiated for alternative sources to replace the slow-growing and scarce pacific yew. Thus far, however, Taxol and related compounds have only been found in the genus Taxus, which comprises a small number of slow-growing plants with a broad but generally isolated geographical distribution. In 1993, Stierle and colleagues reported the independent biosynthesis of Taxol in an endophytic fungus isolated from Taxus brevifolia, which resulted in more than 160 subsequent publications and patents addressing the biosynthesis of Taxol and related taxanes by microorganisms. The literature on fungal taxane synthesis contains numerous inconsistencies, prompting us to thoroughly re-examine Taxol biosynthesis in endophytic fungi associated with Taxus spp. Using a combination of phytochemistry, molecular biology and genome sequencing, we were unable to find any evidence for independent taxane biosynthesis in any of the endophytes, including the isolate described in the original publication (Taxomyces andreanae) and several more recent isolates from Taxus trees. Our findings therefore resolve a long-standing mystery concerning the evolution of a complex terpenoid biosynthetic pathway in two distantly-related organisms. The Author(s), 2013 Taxol biosynthesis nationallicence Endophytic fungi nationallicence Taxanes nationallicence Terpene biosynthesis nationallicence Taxomyces andreanae nationallicence Heinig Uwe Fraunhofer Institut für Molekularbiologie und Angewandte Ökologie, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany aut Scholz Susanne Fraunhofer Institut für Molekularbiologie und Angewandte Ökologie, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany aut Jennewein Stefan Fraunhofer Institut für Molekularbiologie und Angewandte Ökologie, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany aut Fungal Diversity Springer Netherlands 60/1(2013-05-01), 161-170 1560-2745 60:1<161 2013 60 13225 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13225-013-0228-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13225-013-0228-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Heinig Uwe Fraunhofer Institut für Molekularbiologie und Angewandte Ökologie, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Scholz Susanne Fraunhofer Institut für Molekularbiologie und Angewandte Ökologie, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Jennewein Stefan Fraunhofer Institut für Molekularbiologie und Angewandte Ökologie, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Fungal Diversity Springer Netherlands 60/1(2013-05-01), 161-170 1560-2745 60:1<161 2013 60 13225 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer