TAXANES EXPORTED FROM TAXUS X MEDIA HICKSII CUTTINGS INTO LIQUID-MEDIUM OVER TIME

Cuttings from Taxus X media Hicksii were maintained in Gamborg's B5 li quid culture medium, where 10-deacetyl baccatin III, baccatin III, 10- deacetyl taxol, cephalomannine, 7-epi-10-deacetyl taxol and taxol accu mulated in the incubation medium over time. Greater amounts of each ta xane were recovered from plant material as compared with liquid medium . Medium was removed and replaced weekly, biweekly or triweekly for up to nine weeks. The sum of all taxol recovered from the liquid that ha d been harvested from a yew cutting and extracted from the medium week ly over eight weeks was approximately equal to the amount of taxol whi ch would be recovered from the fresh plant cutting, and the cutting st ill contained taxol. This suggests that in vitro cultures of yew cutti ngs may be a re-usable source of taxol and related taxanes. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd