Taxol production by Fusarium arthrosporioides isolated from yew, Taxus cuspidata

Abstract

A taxol-producing endophyte was Fusarium arthrosporioides. As a novel taxol resource, a taxol-producing endophyte was successfully isolated from the yew tree, Taxus cuspidata Sieb. et Zucc. According to the morphological characterization and the ITS4-ITS5 sequences, the isolated endophytic fungus was identified as Fusarium arthrosporioides. Fermentation conditions for taxol production were optimized with the isolated strain (F-40) of F. arthrosporioides. The fungal taxol was analytically confirmed by TLC, RP-HPLC, LC-MS and NMR. F. arthrosporioides isolated from yew was found to produce taxol with a maximum yield of 131 mg/L. Precise methods were established for detecting the fungal taxol and its derivatives.

Keywords

• anticancer
• endophytic fungus
• fusarium arthro sporioides
• taxol