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Taxol, an anticancer drug produced by an endophytic fungus Bartalinia robillardoides Tassi, isolated from a medicinal plant, Aegle marmelos Correa ex Roxb.

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Abstract

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 μg/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.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. N. Anand, Director, CAS in Botany, University of Madras for the laboratory facilities provided. One of the author (Gangadevi) is thankful to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India (Project No.14–53/2001-ERS-RE dt. 9.12.2003) for the Junior Research Fellowship during which the investigation was carried out.

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  1. Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600 025, India

    V. Gangadevi & J. Muthumary

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  1. V. Gangadevi
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  2. J. Muthumary
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Correspondence to J. Muthumary.

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Gangadevi, V., Muthumary, J. Taxol, an anticancer drug produced by an endophytic fungus Bartalinia robillardoides Tassi, isolated from a medicinal plant, Aegle marmelos Correa ex Roxb.. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 24, 717–724 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-007-9530-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-007-9530-4

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