Production of taxol from Phyllosticta spinarum, an endophytic fungus of Cupressus sp.

Taxol production during the cultivation on a modified liquid and potato dextrose broth medium was indicated for the first time to occur in Phyllosticta spinarum, an endophytic fungus Isolated from the needles of Cupressus sp. The presence of taxol in the fungal Culture filtrate was confirmed by chromatographic and spectroscopic methods of analysis. The amount of taxol produced by this fungus was quantified by high performance liquid chromatography. The maximum amount of taxol production was obtained in this fungus when grown on MID medium (235 mu g/L) followed by PDB medium (125 mu g/L). The results indicate that R spinarum is an excellent candidate for taxol production. The production rate was 4.7 x 10(3)-fold higher than that found in the culture broth of an earlier reported fun,,us, Taxomyces andreanae. The fungal taxol extracted also showed a strong cytotoxic activity in the in vitro culture of human cancer cells tested in an apoptotic assay.