An Endophytic Fungus from Nothapodytes foetida that Produces Camptothecin

Abstract

A fungal endophytic isolate, camptothecin, has been isolated from the inner bark of the plant Nothapodytes foetidafrom the Western coast of India. The fungus, which belongs to the family Phycomycetes, produced the anticancer drug lead compound camptothecin (1) when grown in a synthetic liquid medium (Sabouraud broth) under shake flask and bench scale fermentation conditions. Compound 1 was identified by means of chromatographic and spectroscopic methods. It was also compared with an authentic example for its biological activity against a number of human cancer cell lines. Isolation of an organism producing 1 and its fermentation may, in the future, provide an easily accessible source for the production of this anticancer drug precursor molecule.

Effect of precursors feeding and media manipulation on production of novel anticancer pro-drug camptothecin from endophytic fungus

“…In continuation of our previous work (39,2,3,40) on microbial chemistry of endophytic culture, herein, we demonstrate the outcome of media manipulations and precursor's treatment on the production of CPT from RJMEF001.…”

“…The optimization of culture medium, the supply of biosynthetic precursors and genetic engineering are among the strategies adopted to increase alkaloid production in vitro (46). The production of CPT by endophytic fungi was initially reported by our group in 2005 (39). This important anticancer drug precursor molecule was obtained from endophyte RJMEF001 identified as…”

Endophytic Penicillium citrinum Thom. from Scoparia dulcis Linn

“…These fungi can have effects on their hosts such as enhancement of stress, insect and disease resistance, [4][5][6][7] and also productivity improvement [8]. An endophytic fungus isolated from the inner barks of Nothapodytis foetida from the western coast of India produced a valuable alkaloid, viz.,Camptothecin [9].…”

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“…This means of cancer curation makes use of the property of inhibition that the camptothecin compound has with the DNA of the cancerous cells. Some side effects in using this compound include diarrhea and anemia 99 .…”