Published Paper Details:

Paclitaxel is a widely used chemotherapy drug typically Extracted from the Yew tree. Paclitaxel is a poly-oxygenated cyclic diterpenoids with a characteristic Taxane ring system. It is the most effective and widely used chemotherapeutic drug for the treatment of cancers and virus-related sarcoma. Paclitaxel has high activity as an anticancer agent and is widely used in hospitals and clinics. Paclitaxel is a naturally occurring chemical component that was first identified from the bark of yew trees but presents at low levels1. In recent years, lots of yew trees have been destroyed or seriously damaged by harvesting to extract paclitaxel. Although some fungi endophytic to yew have been found to produce paclitaxel, but the levels of production are too low to be useful for commercialization until now. To find endophytic fungi that can produce paclitaxel, we isolated and collected lot of endophytic fungal strains from Bhattu Buhla, Baijnath Tehsil in Kangra District Himachal Pradesh (India). Taxus Baccata distributing in Among these endophytic fungal strains, one strain that can produce paclitaxel was isolated and its production was authenticated with LC-MS. This discovery is very significant for paclitaxel manufacture and environmental protection of yew trees. Each year, approximately 8.1 million new cancer cases are diagnosed worldwide, including India. Around five hundred patients are treated by 1 kg of Paclitaxel, which requires 10 tons of bark equivalent to 300 trees. Too frequent extraction involves destroying the Yew tree source. Demand for Paclitaxel has outstripped supply, and scientists have turned to developing Paclitaxel in plant cells followed by industrial fermentation. Through Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, we can be generating Paclitaxel in bacteria/Fungal cell cultures instead of plant cell cultures