One of the key achievements is the reconstitution of an early paclitaxel biosynthetic pathway using six characterized enzymes from the *Taxus* genus. This reconstitution demonstrates that these enzymes can work together in a heterologous system to produce early intermediates of paclitaxel, marking a critical step toward full paclitaxel biosynthesis in non-native systems. By utilizing heterologous expression in *Nicotiana benthamiana*, the authors coexpressed taxadiene synthase (TS) with other biosynthetic enzymes, including taxadiene 5α-hydroxylase (T5αH), taxadien-5α-ol O-acetyltransferase (TAT), taxane 10β-hydroxylase (T10βH), and others. This coordinated action resulted in the production of key intermediates such as 5α-acetoxytaxadiene and 5α,10βdiacetoxytaxadien-13α-ol.