Taxomyces Andreanae Research Articles

Fungal Endophytes: Microfactories of Novel Bioactive Compounds with Therapeutic Interventions; A Comprehensive Review on the Biotechnological Developments in the Field of Fungal Endophytic Biology over the Last Decade.

The seminal discovery of paclitaxel from endophytic fungus Taxomyces andreanae was a milestone in recognizing the immense potential of endophytic fungi as prolific producers of bioactive secondary metabolites of use in medicine, agriculture, and food industries. Following the discovery of paclitaxel, the research community has intensified efforts to harness endophytic fungi as putative producers of lead molecules with anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, cardio-protective, and immunomodulatory properties. Endophytic fungi have been a valuable source of bioactive compounds over the last three decades. Compounds such as taxol, podophyllotoxin, huperzine, camptothecin, and resveratrol have been effectively isolated and characterized after extraction from endophytic fungi. These findings have expanded the applications of endophytic fungi in medicine and related fields. In the present review, we systematically compile and analyze several important compounds derived from endophytic fungi, encompassing the period from 2011 to 2022. Our systematic approach focuses on elucidating the origins of endophytic fungi, exploring the structural diversity and biological activities exhibited by these compounds, and giving special emphasis to the pharmacological activities and mechanism of action of certain compounds. We highlight the tremendous potential of endophytic fungi as alternate sources of bioactive metabolites, with implications for combating major global diseases. This underscores the significant role that fungi can play in the discovery and development of novel therapeutic agents that address the challenges posed by prevalent diseases worldwide.

Analysis of Antimicrobial Peptide Metabolome of Bacterial Endophyte Isolated From Traditionally Used Medicinal Plant Millettia pachycarpa Benth.

Increasing prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has posed a major health concern worldwide, and the addition of new antimicrobial agents is diminishing due to overexploitation of plants and microbial resources. Inevitably, alternative sources and new strategies are needed to find novel biomolecules to counter AMR and pandemic circumstances. The association of plants with microorganisms is one basic natural interaction that involves the exchange of biomolecules. Such a symbiotic relationship might affect the respective bio-chemical properties and production of secondary metabolites in the host and microbes. Furthermore, the discovery of taxol and taxane from an endophytic fungus, Taxomyces andreanae from Taxus wallachiana, has stimulated much research on endophytes from medicinal plants. A gram-positive endophytic bacterium, Paenibacillus peoriae IBSD35, was isolated from the stem of Millettia pachycarpa Benth. It is a rod-shaped, motile, gram-positive, and endospore-forming bacteria. It is neutralophilic as per Joint Genome Institute’s (JGI) IMG system analysis. The plant was selected based on its ethnobotany history of traditional uses and highly insecticidal properties. Bioactive molecules were purified from P. peoriae IBSD35 culture broth using 70% ammonium sulfate and column chromatography techniques. The biomolecule was enriched to 151.72-fold and the yield percentage was 0.05. Peoriaerin II, a highly potent and broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptide against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, and Candida albicans ATCC 10231 was isolated. LC-MS sequencing revealed that its N-terminal is methionine. It has four negatively charged residues (Asp + Glu) and a total number of two positively charged residues (Arg + Lys). Its molecular weight is 4,685.13 Da. It is linked to an LC-MS/MS inferred biosynthetic gene cluster with accession number A0A2S6P0H9, and blastp has shown it is 82.4% similar to fusaricidin synthetase of Paenibacillus polymyxa SC2. The 3D structure conformation of the BGC and AMP were predicted using SWISS MODEL homology modeling. Therefore, combining both genomic and proteomic results obtained from P. peoriae IBSD35, associated with M. pachycarpa Benth., will substantially increase the understanding of antimicrobial peptides and assist to uncover novel biological agents.

Anticancer Compounds from Fungi: Review

After cardiovascular disease, cancer represents an important one of the causative agents leading to mortality. Therefore, it is considered as a world major problem in, cancer defined as a disease when cells have uncontrolled abnormal proliferation and division. This disease can overcome immune responses leading to destroy other cells. Different chemotherapies are used for treating cancer but only a few have satisfied results. Gene or protein delivering drugs are used to destroy the cancer cells. Concerning anti-cancer agents, fungi play an important role in producing these agents. Taxol, obtained from Taxomyces andreanae, is a typical example of the fungal anti-cancer drugs that it is used for treating cancers of the breast and ovaries. Other fungi can produce the anti-cancer compounds which are Alternaria tenuissima, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus oryzae, Fusarium fujikuroi, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium graminearum, Penicillium expansum, Pyrenophora triticirepentis, Rhizoctonia solani, and Trichophyton rubrum. That can be mini-review summarized a topic related to the anti-cancer products are obtained from fungi.

An endophytic Basidiomycete, Grammothele lineata, isolated from Corchorus olitorius, produces paclitaxel that shows cytotoxicity.

Grammothele lineata, an endophyte isolated in our laboratory from jute (Corchorus olitorius acc. 2015) was found to be a substantial paclitaxel producer. Taxol and its related compounds, produced by this endophyte were extracted by growing the fungus in simple nutrient media (potato dextrose broth, PDB). Taxol was identified and characterized by different analytical techniques (TLC, HPLC, FTIR, LC-ESI-MS/MS) following its extraction by ethyl acetate. In PDB media, this fungus was found to produce 382.2 μgL-1 of taxol which is about 7.6 x103 fold higher than the first reported endophytic fungi, Taxomyces andreanae. The extracted taxol exhibited cytotoxic activity in an in vitro culture of HeLa cancer cell line. The fungal extract also exhibited antifungal and antibacterial activities against different pathogenic strains. This is the first report of a jute endophytic fungus harboring the capacity to produce taxol and also the first reported taxol producing species that belongs to the Basidiomycota phylum, so far unknown to be a taxol producer. These findings suggest that the fungal endophyte, Grammothele lineata can be an excellent source of taxol and can also serve as a potential species for chemical and genetic engineering to enhance further the production of taxol.

Genome sequencing and analysis of the paclitaxel-producing endophytic fungus Penicillium aurantiogriseum NRRL 62431

BackgroundPaclitaxel (Taxol™) is an important anticancer drug with a unique mode of action. The biosynthesis of paclitaxel had been considered restricted to the Taxus species until it was discovered in Taxomyces andreanae, an endophytic fungus of T. brevifolia. Subsequently, paclitaxel was found in hazel (Corylus avellana L.) and in several other endophytic fungi. The distribution of paclitaxel in plants and endophytic fungi and the reported sequence homology of key genes in paclitaxel biosynthesis between plant and fungi species raises the question about whether the origin of this pathway in these two physically associated groups could have been facilitated by horizontal gene transfer.ResultsThe ability of the endophytic fungus of hazel Penicillium aurantiogriseum NRRL 62431 to independently synthesize paclitaxel was established by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and proton nuclear magnetic resonance. The genome of Penicillium aurantiogriseum NRRL 62431 was sequenced and gene candidates that may be involved in paclitaxel biosynthesis were identified by comparison with the 13 known paclitaxel biosynthetic genes in Taxus. We found that paclitaxel biosynthetic gene candidates in P. aurantiogriseum NRRL 62431 have evolved independently and that horizontal gene transfer between this endophytic fungus and its plant host is unlikely.ConclusionsOur findings shed new light on how paclitaxel-producing endophytic fungi synthesize paclitaxel, and will facilitate metabolic engineering for the industrial production of paclitaxel from fungi.

Study of endophytic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens CC09 and its antifungal cyclic lipopeptides

Endophytic microbes are considered to be one of the most important bioactive compounds pool with a potential application in both pharmaceutical and agrichemical industries since the observation of taxol that could be synthesized by endophytic fungus Taxomyces andreanae. In this study, we reported an endophytic bacterium CC09, which was isolated from healthy Cinnamomum camphora leaves, exhibited a potential to produce antifungal metabolites inhibiting the growth of several phytopathogens such as Glomerella glycines, Rhizoctonia solani and Alternaria alternate. Based on 16S rRNA and rpoB genes analysis and physiological and biochemical assays, the strain CC09 was identified as Bacillusamyloliquefaciens. The antifungal constitutes in the culture filtrate of strain CC09 were predicted to be iturin family based on PCR amplification of specific genes including BmyC, ItuC, ItuD, ItuF and ItuR (encoding Iturin synthethases), FenD and FenE (encoding Fengency synthethases) and SrfC (encoding Surfactin synthethases), and confirmed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The broad antifungal spectra of the active constitutes in the metabolites indicated that the endophytic bacterium strain CC09 could be used as a potential biocontrol agent to control plant funga l diseases.

Getting to the bottom of Taxol biosynthesis by fungi

Taxol (paclitaxel) is a highly-oxygenated diterpenoid natural product first isolated from the pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia). It is one of the most widely used anticancer drugs. Soon after the discovery of its unique mode of action and the resulting high demand, an extensive search was initiated for alternative sources to replace the slow-growing and scarce pacific yew. Thus far, however, Taxol and related compounds have only been found in the genus Taxus, which comprises a small number of slow-growing plants with a broad but generally isolated geographical distribution. In 1993, Stierle and colleagues reported the independent biosynthesis of Taxol in an endophytic fungus isolated from Taxus brevifolia, which resulted in more than 160 subsequent publications and patents addressing the biosynthesis of Taxol and related taxanes by microorganisms. The literature on fungal taxane synthesis contains numerous inconsistencies, prompting us to thoroughly re-examine Taxol biosynthesis in endophytic fungi associated with Taxus spp. Using a combination of phytochemistry, molecular biology and genome sequencing, we were unable to find any evidence for independent taxane biosynthesis in any of the endophytes, including the isolate described in the original publication (Taxomyces andreanae) and several more recent isolates from Taxus trees. Our findings therefore resolve a long-standing mystery concerning the evolution of a complex terpenoid biosynthetic pathway in two distantly-related organisms.

Isolation of taxol, an anticancer drug produced by the endophytic fungus, Phoma betae

Phoma betae, an endophytic fungus, was isolated from the healthy leaves of Ginkgo biloba . The fungus was screened for the production of taxol on a modified liquid medium for the first time. The fungal species were identified by their characteristic culture morphology and molecular analysis. The presence of taxol was confirmed by spectroscopic: ultraviolet (UV), infrared (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS); and chromatographic: thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods of analysis. The taxol production was quantified by HPLC analysis. The maximum amount of taxol production was recorded as 795 μg/L. The production rate was 15,900-fold more than that found in the culture broth of earlier reported fungus, Taxomyces andreanae . The extracted fungal taxol demonstrate a strong cytotoxic activity in the in vitro culture of tested human cancer cells by apoptotic assay. This indicates that the increase in taxol concentration induced an increased cell death. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based screening for taxadiene synthase (ts), a unique gene in the formation of the taxane skeleton was confirmed as a molecular blueprint for taxol biosynthesis. These results designate that the fungus, P. betae is an excellent candidate for taxol supply and can serve as a potential species for genetic engineering to enhance the production of taxol to a higher level. Key words : Taxol production, Phoma betae, analytical methods, cytotoxicity assay, taxadiene synthase.

In vitro screening of taxol, an anticancer drug produced by the fungus, Colletotrichum capsici

AbstractThe fungus Colletotrichum capsici was isolated from the diseased fruits of Chilli plant, Capsicum annuum. The isolated test fungus was identified by its morphological and molecular characteristic features. For the first time, the fungus was screened for the production of taxol on modified liquid medium. The presence of taxol was confirmed by the spectroscopic and chromatographic methods of analyses. The amount of taxol produced by this fungus was quantified by HPLC. The maximum amount of fungal taxol production was recorded as 687 μg/L. The production rate was 13 740‐fold higher than that, previously reported for the fungus Taxomyces andreanae. The extracted fungal taxol showed a strong cytotoxic activity in an in vitro culture of human cancer cells indicating that the increase in taxol concentration induces increased cell death. A PCR‐based screening for taxadiene synthase (ts), a unique gene in the formation of the taxane skeleton, confirmed the molecular blueprint for taxol biosynthesis. The results show that the fungus C. capsici is an excellent candidate for an alternate source of taxol supply and can serve as a potential species for genetic engineering to enhance the production of taxol to a higher level.

Plant-Derived Bioactive Compounds Produced by Endophytic Fungi

Plant endophytic fungi are an important and novel resource of natural bioactive compounds with their potential applications in agriculture, medicine and food industry. In the past two decades, many valuable bioactive compounds with antimicrobial, insecticidal, cytotoxic, and anticancer activities have been successfully discovered from endophytic fungi. During the long period of co-evolution, a friendly relationship was formed between each endophyte and its host plant. Some endophytes have the ability to produce the same or similar bioactive compounds as those originated from their host plants. This review mainly deals with the research progress on endophytic fungi for producing plant-derived bioactive compounds such as paclitaxel, podophyllotoxin, camptothecine, vinblastine, hypericin, and diosgenin. The relations between endophytic fungi and their host plants, biological activities and action mechanisms of these compounds from endophytic fungi, some available strategies for efficiently promoting production of these bioactive compounds, as well as their potential applications in the future will also be discussed. It is beneficial for us to better understand and take advantage of plant endophytic fungi.

Taxol promising fungal endophyte, Pestalotiopsis species isolated from Taxus cuspidata

The endophytic fungi, Pestalotiopsis versicolor and Pestalotiopsis neglecta, were isolated from the healthy leaves and bark of the Japanese Yew tree, Taxus cuspidata. The fungal species were identified by their characteristic culture morphology and molecular analysis. For the first time, the test fungi were screened for the production of taxol in modified liquid medium. The presence of taxol was confirmed by HPLC, (1)H NMR, and LC-MS methods of analysis. The maximum amount of taxol production in P. versicolor was recorded as 478 μg/l. The production rate was increased to 9560-fold than that found in the culture broth of earlier reported fungus, Taxomyces andreanae. The extracted fungal taxol showed a strong cytotoxic activity in the in vitro culture of tested human cancer cells by apoptotic assay indicating that the increase in taxol concentration induces increased cell death. A PCR-based screening for ts, a unique gene in the formation of the taxane skeleton, confirmed the molecular blueprint for taxol biosynthesis. The results designate that the fungal endophyte, P. versicolor, is an excellent candidate for an alternate source of taxol supply and can also serve as a potential species for genetic engineering to enhance the production of taxol to a higher level.

Screening of species of the endophytic fungus Phomopsis for the production of the anticancer drug taxol

Three different strains of the endophytic fungus Phomopsis were isolated from the healthy leaves of Taxus cuspidata (Japanese yew), Ginkgo biloba (ginkgo or maidenhair tree) and Larix leptolepis (Japanese larch) and screened for the production of taxol on a modified liquid medium for the first time. The presence of taxol was confirmed by spectroscopic and chromatographic analyses. The amount of taxol produced by this fungus was quantified by HPLC. The maximum amount of fungal taxol production was recorded as 418 microg/litre in the strain BKH 27. The yield was increased to 8360-fold that found for the fungus Taxomyces andreanae reported previously [Stierle, Strobel and Stierle (1993) Science 260, 214-216]. The fungal taxol extracted also showed a strong cytotoxicity towards the human cancer cells in an apoptosis assay. All the three isolates showed positive sign towards PCR for the conserved sequence of the taxadiene synthase gene. The results suggest that Phomopsis could be an excellent alternative source for taxol and may serve as a potential genetic-engineered species for the enhanced production of taxol.

Production of taxol from Phyllosticta dioscoreae, a leaf spot fungus isolated from Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

Taxol is a highly functionalized anticancer drug widely used in hospitals and clinics. The leaf spot fungus, Phyllosticta dioscoreae was isolated from diseased leaves of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis and screened for extracellular production of taxol in M1D (Modified liquid medium) and PDB (Potato dextrose broth) medium for the first time. The fungus was identified by its morphological and conidial features in the culture growth. The presence of taxol in the fungal culture filtrate was confirmed by different spectroscopic and chromatographic analyses. The amount of taxol produced was quantified by HPLC. The maximum amount of taxol produced was found to be 298 μg/L in M1D medium. Production rate was 5.96 × 103 times faster than that found in culture broth of earlier reported fungus, Taxomyces andreanae. The extracted fungal taxol also showed strong cytotoxic activity in vitro in the cultures of human cancer cells tested by apoptotic assay. The results indicate that P. dioscoreae is an excellent source of taxol production, which suggests that the fungus has potential to undergo genetic engineering in order to improve its production level.

Isolation and identification of an anticancer drug, taxol from Phyllosticta tabernaemontanae, a leaf spot fungus of an angiosperm, Wrightia tinctoria

Phyllosticta tabernaemontanae, a leaf spot fungus isolated from the diseased leaves of Wrightia tinctoria, showed the production of taxol, an anticancer drug, on modified liquid medium (M1D) and potato dextrose broth (PDB) medium in culture for the first time. The presence of taxol was confirmed by spectroscopic and chromatographic methods of analysis. The amount of taxol produced by this fungus was quantified using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The maximum amount of taxol production was recorded in the fungus grown on M1D medium (461 microg/L) followed by PDB medium (150 microg/L). The production rate was increased to 9.2 x 10(3) fold than that found in the culture broth of earlier reported fungus, Taxomyces andreanae. The results designate that P. tabernaemontanae is an excellent candidate for taxol production. The fungal taxol extracted also showed a strong cytotoxic activity in the in vitro culture of tested human cancer cells by apoptotic assay.

Production of Taxol fromPhyllosticta spinarum, an endophytic fungus ofCupressus sp.

AbstractTaxol production during the cultivation on a modified liquid and potato dextrose broth medium was indicated for the first time to occur in Phyllosticta spinarum, an endophytic fungus isolated from the needles of Cupressus sp. The presence of taxol in the fungal culture filtrate was confirmed by chromatographic and spectroscopic methods of analysis. The amount of taxol produced by this fungus was quantified by high performance liquid chromatography. The maximum amount of taxol production was obtained in this fungus when grown on M1D medium (235 μg/L) followed by PDB medium (125 μg/L). The results indicate that P. spinarum is an excellent candidate for taxol production. The production rate was 4.7 × 103‐fold higher than that found in the culture broth of an earlier reported fungus, Taxomyces andreanae. The fungal taxol extracted also showed a strong cytotoxic activity in the in vitro culture of human cancer cells tested in an apoptotic assay.

Taxol from Phyllosticta citricarpa, a leaf spot fungus of the angiosperm Citrus medica

Phyllosticta citricarpa, a leaf spot fungus isolated from the diseased leaves of Citrus medica, displayed the production of taxol, an anticancer drug on M1D and potato dextrose broth medium in culture for the first time. The presence of taxol was confirmed by spectroscopic and chromatographic methods of analysis. The maximum amount of taxol production was recorded in the fungus grown on M1D medium (265 microg/l) followed by PDB medium (137 microg/l). The production rate was increased to 5.3 x 10(3) fold than that observed in the culture broth of an earlier reported fungus, Taxomyces andreanae.

Beneficial uses of plant pathogens: anticancer and drug agents derived from plant pathogens1

There are many examples, in the modern pharmacopeia, of useful medications that have been derived from plants and other living materials in the natural world. The emergence of Taxol™ (paclitaxel) as an effective treatment of ovarian and possibly other cancers has enhanced the interest of pharmacologists worldwide for the search, in the natural world, of anticancer agents and other effective remedies to combat human diseases. A promising source for known effective agents and new drugs are plant pathogens such as fungi. Recent studies have determined that a fungus (Taxomyces andreanae Strobel, Stierle, & Hess) isolated from the inner bark of the Pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia Nutt.) produces paclitaxel (Taxol™) and other taxanes in de novo fashion, providing an easy and possibly inexhaustible source of these important chemicals. Lichens that live on plants may also prove to contain useful chemicals, which could be exploited in modern medicine. A survey of the current literature indicates that the natural world will continue to provide such type of medications in the decades ahead, possibly from as yet unexploited sources, such as plant pathogens.

Taxol from fungal endophytes and the issue of biodiversity

Fungi represent one of the most understudied and diverse group of organisms. Commonly, these organisms make associations with higher life forms and may proceed to biochemically mimic the host organism. An excellent example of this is the anticancer drug, taxol, which had been previously supposed to occur only in the plant genusTaxus (yew). However, taxol has been reported in a novel endophytic fungus—Taxomyces andreanae, but also has been demonstrated to occur in a number of unrelated fungal endophytes includingPestalotia, Pestalotiopsis, Fusarium, Alternaria, Pithomyces, Monochaetia and others. Thus, this report presents information on the presence of taxol among disparate fungal genera, and uses these observations as an additional argument to support efforts to study fungal endophytes and preserve their associated host plants.

The search for a taxol-producing microorganism among the endophytic fungi of the Pacific yew, Taxus brevifolia.

Endophytic microbes associated with the Pacific yew tree, Taxus brevifolia, were examined as potential sources of the anticancer drug taxol [1], a secondary metabolite of the host organism. The first promising organism found was the novel fungus, Taxomyces andreanae, which was isolated from the inner bark of a yew tree growing in northwestern Montana. It appears to produce taxol and other taxanes in de novo fashion when grown in semi-synthetic liquid media. The presence of 1 in the fungal extract was confirmed by mass spectrometry, comparative chromatographic behavior with "yew" taxol, reactivity with taxol-specific monoclonal antibodies, and 9KB cytotoxicity studies. Both acetate-1-14C and phenylalanine UL-14C served as precursors of taxol-14C in fungal culture labeling studies, confirming the de novo synthesis of 1 by the fungus. Immunoassay techniques are currently being used to screen extracts of Taxomyces andreanae for new taxanes, and to determine if other endophytic fungi are taxol producers.