Camptotheca acuminata Overview Page


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Common Name

Xi Shu; Happy Tree

Taxonomic Classification

Cornaceae family

Drug Uses

Camptotheca acuminata (Nyssaceae) is a Chinese tree that produces the pentacyclic quinolines camptothecin and 10-hydroxycamptothecin through the monoterpene indole alkaloid pathway. Camptothecin inhibits DNA topoisomerase I and is very effective against cancer cells in culture. However, severe side effects limit camptothecin's usefulness in patients. Currently, two semi-synthetic derivatives of camptothecin, topotecan and irinotecan, which retain anti-cancer activity but with less severe side effects, are used to treat a variety of cancers, particularly those of colorectal and gynecological origin. Additional semi-synthetic derivatives of camptothecin are being developed, but they too begin with the natural product as the starting point.


Chemical Structure: CamptothecinClinical TrialsMajor Metabolites

Enzyme Information

Enzyme NameEC NoGenbank AccessionGI No
Tryptophan decarboxylase4.1.1.28AAB39709.11763279

Genome Assembly

We have generated an Camptotheca acuminata assembly of 403 Mb with a N50 scaffold size of 1.75 Mb and annotated a total of 31,825 genes. A full analysis of the genome can be found in Zhao et al. 2017. See the genome browser, BLAST search site, and Dryad Digital Repository for access to the data.

Entries in Genbank

dbEST/(Kb) dbGSS/(Kb) dbPLN/(Kb) dbHTG/(Kb) Total Entriesa/(Kb)
0
(0kb)		0
(0kb)		36
(74.8kb)		0
(0kb)		36
(74.8kb)

aThe Total Entries column is the sum of the entries from the dbEST, dbGSS, dbPLN, and dbHTG columns. Data retrieved from NCBI on May 14 2010.

Transcript Assemblies

    N/A

    Cloned Genes

    • Tryptophan decarboxylase
    • Strictosidine synthase
    • 1-hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(E)-butenyl 4-diphosphate reductase
    • isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase
    • 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate reductoisomerase

    Pubmed Records

    • 88 records

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    Links

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