Taxol is an important anticancer drug widely used in the clinic. An endophytic fungus Bartalinia robillardoides (strain AMB-9) was isolated from Aegle marmelos, a medicinal plant and screened for taxol production. The fungus was identified based on the morphology of the fungal culture and the characteristics of the spores. This fungus was grown in MID liquid medium and analyzed chromatographically and spectrometrically, for the presence of Taxol. The amount of taxol produced by this endophytic fungus was quantified by HPLC. It produced 187.6 lg/L of taxol which suggests that the fungus can serve as a potential material for genetic engineering to improve the production of Taxol. This fungal taxol isolated from the organic extract of this fungal culture, has strong cytotoxic activity towards BT 220, H116, Int 407, HL 251 and HLK 210 human cancer cells in vitro, tested by Apoptotic assay.

Terminalia arjuna is a medicinal plant (the arjun tree) that possesses anticancer activity. An endophytic fungus, Pestalotiopsis terminaliae, was isolated from the fresh healthy leaves of this tree and was screened for the production of taxol, an anticancer drug, in artificial culture medium. The taxol produced was analysed chromatographically and spectrometrically. The amount of taxol produced by the fungus was found to be 211.1 microg/litre. This was sufficient for the fungus to be considered as a potential source material for improvement, by engineering, the production of taxol. The fungal taxol extracted from an organic extract of the fungal culture had strong cytotoxic activity towards BT220, H116, Int 407, HL 251 and HLK 210 human cancer cells in vitro when tested using an apoptosis assay.

No abstract

Taxol is the most important member of the clinically useful natural anticancer drug. An endophytic fungus Chaetomella raphigera (strain TAC-15) was isolated from a medicinal plant Terminalia arjuna and screened for its potential in Taxol production. The fungus was identified based on the morphology of the fungal culture and the characteristics of the spores. This fungus was grown in MID liquid medium and analyzed by chromatographically and spectrometrically for the presence of Taxol. The amount of Taxol produced by this endophytic fungus was quantified by HPLC which showed that it produced 79.6 microg/L, and further confirmative analyses were done by using UV, IR, FAB mass spectroscopy, and NMR spectroscopy. Thus, the fungus can serve as a potential material for fungus engineering to improve the production of Taxol.

No abstract