Omic analysis of the endangered Taxaceae species Pseudotaxus chienii revealed the differences in taxol biosynthesis pathway between Pseudotaxus and Taxus yunnanensis trees

Abstract

Background Taxol is an efficient anticancer drug accumulated in Taxus species. Pseudotaxus chienii is an important member of Taxaceae, however, the level of six taxoids in P. chienii is largely unknown. Results High accumulation of 10-DAB, taxol, and 7-E-PTX suggested that P. chienii is a good taxol-yielding species for large-scale cultivation. By the omics approaches, a total of 3,387 metabolites and 61,146 unigenes were detected and annotated. Compared with a representative Taxus tree (Taxus yunnanensis), most of the differentially accumulated metabolites and differential expressed genes were assigned into 10 primary and secondary metabolism pathways. Comparative analyses revealed the variations in the precursors and intermediate products of taxol biosynthesis between P. chienii and T. yunnanensis. Taxusin-like metabolites highly accumulated in P. chienii, suggesting a wider value of P. chienii in pharmaceutical industry. Conclusions In our study, the occurrence of taxoids in P. chienii was determined. The differential expression of key genes involved in the taxol biosynthesis pathway is the major cause of the differential accumulation of taxoids. Moreover, identification of a number of differentially expressed transcription factors provided more candidate regulators of taxol biosynthesis. Our study may help to reveal the differences between Pseudotaxus and Taxus trees, and promote resource utilization of the endangered and rarely studied P. chienii.

Recent Research Progress in Taxol Biosynthetic Pathway and Acylation Reactions Mediated by Taxus Acyltransferases

“…Recently, the differential mechanism of taxol synthesis among different tissues of Taxus mairei [ 47 ] and T. cuspidate [ 29 ], different cultivars within T. yunnanensis [ 48 , 49 ], and different Taxus species ( T. media , T. mairei and T. cuspidata ) [ 50 , 51 ] was revealed respectively by transcriptome sequencing technology, which showed huge correlations between the taxol contents and the expression levels of taxol pathway genes. Multiomics analysis further confirmed the regulation of these corresponding enzymes on taxol and its derivatives [ 52 , 53 , 54 ]. Moreover, different elicitors were used to treat Taxus cells.…”

TcMYB29a, an ABA-Responsive R2R3-MYB Transcriptional Factor, Upregulates Taxol Biosynthesis in Taxus chinensis

“…However, the regulatory mechanism of those MYBs in the synthesis of taxol is not further explored. Recently, a phloem-specific R2R3-MYB TF, TmMYB3, was isolated from T. media and was confirmed to act as a transcriptional activator in the taxol biosynthesis, through binding directly to the promoters of TmTBT and TmTS genes (Yu et al, 2021). Also, according to previous research, an R2R3-MYB TF (named TcMYB29a) was isolated.…”

“…Transcription factors play important roles in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. In the Taxus species, several TFs, including WRKYs and ERFs in T. chinensis, MYCs in T. cuspidata and T. chinensis, and MYB in T. media, were proved as being involved in the taxol biosynthesis pathway (Li et al, 2013;Lenka et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2015Zhang et al, , 2018Cui et al, 2019;Yu et al, 2021). Although MYB family genes have been characterized from different plants, little is known about its specific functions and mechanisms on the regulation of taxol biosynthesis in Taxus (yew).…”

Role of female-predominant MYB39-bHLH13 complex in sexually dimorphic accumulation of taxol in Taxus media

“…For years, Taxus plants have been the major natural materials for the extraction of taxol and other taxoids [ 26 ]. Distribution and accumulation levels of taxoids vary greatly among different species, tissues, and growth conditions [ 14 , 27 ].…”