African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (10), pp. 875-877, 16 May 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

An endophytic Taxol-producing fungus BT2 isolated from Taxus chinensis var. mairei

B.H. Guo¹, Y.C. Wang¹, X.W. Zhou¹, K. Hu², F. Tan², Z.Q. Miao¹ and K.X. Tang^{1, 3*}

¹Shanghai Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, Plant Biotechnology Research Center, School of Agriculture and Biology, Fudan-SJTU-Nottingham Plant Biotechnology R&D Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China.

²School of Life Science and Technology, Southwest Normal University, Chongqing 400715, P.R.China.

³State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan-SJTU-Nottingham Plant Biotechnology R&D Center, Morgan-Tan International Center for Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, P. R. China.

*Corresponding authors E-mail: kxtang1@yahoo.com.

Accepted 21 March, 2006

Abstract

BT2, a newly isolated endophytic fungus from Taxus chinensis var. mairei, was observed to produce Taxol. Besides Taxol, a potent anticancer drug, BT2 could also yield taxane baccatin III, which was an important intermediate for Taxol and semi-synthesis of Taxol in industry. The isolation of such a fungus may provide a promising alterative approach to produce Taxol, and BT2 can serve as a potential material for fungus engineering to improve Taxol production.

Key words: Baccatin III, endophytic fungus, Taxol, Taxus chinensis var. mairei.