Journal
CHEMISTRY & BIOLOGY
Volume 11, Issue 3, Pages 379-387Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2004.02.022
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Funding
- NCI NIH HHS [CA-70375, CA-55254] Funding Source: Medline
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The first oxygenation step in the biosynthesis of the anticancer drug taxol in Taxus species is the cytochrome P450-mediated hydroxylation (with double bond migration) of the diterpene olefin precursor taxa-4(5),11(12)-diene to taxa-4(20),11(12)-dien-5alpha-ol. A homology-based cloning strategy, employing an induced Taxus cell library, yielded a cDNA encoding taxadiene 5alpha-hydroxylase, which was functionally expressed in yeast and insect cells. The recombinant enzyme was characterized and shown to efficiently utilize both taxa-4(5),11(12)-diene and taxa-4(20),11(12)diene (as an adventitious substrate) to synthesize taxa4(20),11(12)-dien-5alpha-ol. This hydroxylase resembles, in sequence and properties, other cytochrome P450 oxygenases of taxol biosynthesis. The utilization of both taxadiene isomers in the formation of taxa4(20),11(12)-dien-5alpha-ol is novel, suggesting a reaction mechanism involving promiscuous radical abstraction with selective oxygen insertion rather than epoxidation of the C4,C5-alkene of the natural substrate and allylic rearrangement of the resulting taxa-11(12)-en-4,5epoxide.
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