Work

Engineering the paclitaxel biosynthetic pathway in Physcomitrium patens for de novo and stable biosynthesis

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Paclitaxel is a highly valuable diterpenoid anticancer drug originally extracted from the yew tree. Due to the low efficiency of plant extraction and the high cost of semi-synthesis, efforts have been made to produce paclitaxel through biosynthesis. However, there have been no reports to date on engineered strains capable of paclitaxel biosynthesis. Here, we engineer a paclitaxel-producing line using the moss (Physcomitrium patens) chassis cells by combining transient expression verification, cytoplasmic localization strategies, self-cleaving 2 A peptide-mediated multi-gene co-expression systems and a modular iterative transformation strategy for stable genetic inheritance. Even after continuous subculturing multiple times, the engineered paclitaxel-producing lines obtained through both the initial reconstructed pathway and the optimized pathway are able to stably produce paclitaxel. This study proposes that Physcomitrium patens can serve as a plant chassis for paclitaxel biosynthesis.

Source: Nature Communications

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-76625-x