Analysis genome of Pseudotaxus chienii reveals insights into the origin and evolution of taxane biosynthesis

Mingshuang Wang, Ruoyun Ma, Zijin Fang, Lingxiao Zhang, Yibo Zhang, Mengyin Zheng, Enhui Bai, Wanting Lin, Yanyan Pei, Yue Zang, Huijie Ma, Shangguo Feng, Xiaori Zhan, Chunna Yu, Shuling Wang, Huizhong Wang, Chenliang Yu, Chenjia Shen · 2025

Read Analysis genome of Pseudotaxus chienii reveals insights into the origin and evolution of taxane biosynthesis by Mingshuang Wang, Ruoyun Ma, Zijin Fang, Lingxiao Zhang, Yibo Zhang, Mengyin Zheng, Enhui Bai, Wanting Lin, Yanyan Pei, Yue Zang, Huijie Ma, Shangguo Feng, Xiaori Zhan, Chunna Yu, Shuling Wang, Huizhong Wang, Chenliang Yu, Chenjia Shen (2025) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-12852726.txt.

Description

Mingshuang Wang and a large team of co-authors present a 2025 genome study of a rare yew cousin, Pseudotaxus chienii. Its sister genus makes taxanes, the family behind a famed cancer drug. No reference genome existed for this plant, so they built one at chromosome scale.

The plant holds only part of the taxane making path. It stops one step short of a key mid product, lacking a working transfer enzyme. The true yews gained that step, which let the full drug path evolve. A core enzyme's metal sites are shared across both genera. Those sites are targets for engineering stronger enzymes. The work traces how a drug pathway was born.

Catalog record

CREATORMingshuang Wang, Ruoyun Ma, Zijin Fang, Lingxiao Zhang, Yibo Zhang, Mengyin Zheng, Enhui Bai, Wanting Lin, Yanyan Pei, Yue Zang, Huijie Ma, Shangguo Feng, Xiaori Zhan, Chunna Yu, Shuling Wang, Huizhong Wang, Chenliang Yu, Chenjia Shen
YEAR2025
COLLECTIONPAPERS
FORMATTXT
FILE SIZE63 KB
VERSION1.0
LICENSECC BY 4.0
RIGHTSCC BY
SOURCEEurope PMC

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12852726

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