來自南Illinois大學和Washington大學的科學家開發(fā)出一種轉基因苔蘚（Phsycomitrella patens）能夠積累高水平的紫杉醇，一種有效的抗癌藥。紫杉醇的商品名為Taxol，用于肺癌、乳腺癌、卵巢癌和晚期Kaposi氏腫瘤。紫杉醇由紫杉（Taxus brevifolia）中分離獲得，可以通過擾亂細胞分裂中的微管解聚從而抑制癌細胞增殖。

由于紫杉中的紫杉醇含量過低，研究人員想通過化學方法合成這種物質。應用細菌和酵母的轉基因表達系統(tǒng)可以生產紫杉醇前體，但這些方法不適合大規(guī)模商業(yè)化生產?，F(xiàn)在，藥用紫杉醇前體是從歐洲紫杉的針狀葉中分離出來的。

比起其他植物表達系統(tǒng)，轉基因苔蘚可以積累更高水平的紫杉醇前體taxa-4（5）,11（12）-diene（占組織鮮重的0.05%），雖然這比使用酵母或細菌表達系統(tǒng)的生產量低，但是科學家指出微生物的轉錄后修飾機制可能影響紫杉醇前體的活性。（生物谷Bioon.com）

生物谷推薦原始出處：

Transgenic Research DOI：10.1007/s11248-009-9252-5

Production of taxa-4（5）,11（12）-diene by transgenic Physcomitrella patens

Aldwin Anterola1 , Erin Shanle1, Pierre-Fran?ois Perroud2 and Ralph Quatrano2

（1）  Department of Plant Biology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA
（2）  Department of Biology, Washington University, St Louis, MO 63130, USA

Abstract  Taxadiene synthase gene from Taxus brevifolia was constitutively expressed in the moss Physcomitrella patens using a ubiquitin promoter to produce taxa-4（5）,11（12）-diene, the precursor of the anticancer drug paclitaxel. In stable moss transformants, taxa-4（5）,11（12）-diene was produced up to 0.05% fresh weight of tissue, without significantly affecting the amounts of the endogenous diterpenoids （ent-kaurene and 16-hydroxykaurane）. Unlike higher plants that had been genetically modified to produce taxa-4（5）,11（12）-diene, transgenic P. patens did not exhibit growth inhibition due to alteration of diterpenoid metabolic pools. Thus we propose that P. patens is a promising alternative host for the biotechnological production of paclitaxel and its precursors.

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