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. 2016 Oct 5;7:12942. doi: 10.1038/ncomms12942

Figure 1. Biosynthesis of PDs in Rosmarinus officinalis and sage species.

Figure 1

State of the knowledge on the biosynthetic pathway from GGPP to CA, CO and PA before this study. The terpene synthases CPS and MiS cyclize GGPP to miltiradiene, which spontaneously oxidizes to abietatriene. Ferruginol synthases oxidize abietatriene to ferruginol. A further intermediate is presumed to be 11-hydroxyferruginol. Oxidations at the C20 position should lead to pisiferic acid (PA) from ferruginol and to carnosic acid (CA) from 11-hydroxyferruginol. Further oxidation of CA at the C7 position results in carnosol.