Taxaceae and Cephalotaxaceae: Biodiversity, Chemodiversity and Pharmacotherapy

Taxus - a genus of coniferous trees or shrubs known as yews, in the family Taxaceae - is the source plant of anti-cancer drug Paclitaxel and its biosynthetic precursors, analogs and derivatives, and has been studied for decadesfor its pharmacological potential. There are many endemic Taxus species in China and internationally. Gaps are still present, however, in knowledge about the genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics/cheminformatics of Taxaceae/Cephalotaxus and their associated microbes. In turn, systems biology and various omics technologies will take on a growing scientific role in the coming decades.

Taxaceae and Cephalotaxaceae accounts for the biodiversity and chemodiversity of these medicinal plants, examining and synthesising existing research into their biology, chemistry and pharmacotherapy. The title examines how pharmacophylogeny allows sustainable conservation and exploitation, presents how these plants work from the chemical level upward, and examines associated microbe compounds, towards new chemical entity design and development for improved treatments. Six chapters present a summary of biological and biochemical research of Taxaceae plants; progress in mining their chemodiversity; mining pharmacotherapy utility from their chemodiversity and biodiversity; drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic diversity of their medicinal compounds; mining pharmacotherapy utility from associated microbes; the biodiversity, chemodiversity and pharmacotherapy of Cephalotaxus medicinal plants; and of Amentotaxus, Pseudotaxus and Torreya medicinal plants. The book envisages that multiple omics platforms and advanced systems biology will allow further exploration of Taxaceae and Cephalotaxaceae, streamlining the future drug supply chain.