Production of Taxol® and Related Taxoids by Callus Culture of Taxus cuspidata

Jun-ichi SAKAI*, Masayoshi ANDO, Takeo UCHIYAMA†, Hajime FUJISAWA††, Mutsumi KITABATAKE††, Kazuki TOYOIZUMI and Katutoshi HIROSE†††

Faculty of Engineering, Niigata University; Ikarashi 2-8050, Niigata-shi 950-2181 Japan
† Department of Agriculture, Niigata University; Ikarashi 2-8050, Niigata-shi 950-2181 Japan
†† Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University; Ikarashi 2-8050, Niigata-shi 950-2181 Japan
††† Kobe Natural Prod. & Chem. Co., Ltd.; 527 Nishikawanabe, Ichikawa-Cho, Kanzaki-Gun, Hyogo 679-2315 Japan

Callus cultures of Taxus cuspidata were induced from young stems in a modified Gamborg B5 medium with various known auxines. Taxol® (Paclitaxel) (1) (0.010% based on dry callus weight) and its relating compounds containing oxetane ring 7--10 were isolated from the fast-growing callus cultures (CR-5 cell strain) with NAA 0.5 mg/L in the medium, together with taxuyunnanine C (2) and its 14-acyloxy derivatives 3--6 in high yields (total 0.49%). The dry callus culture was extracted with hexane, ethyl acetate, and methyl alcohol successively. These extracts were separated by the combination of silica gel flash chromatography and HPLC. Taxol (1), 7-epitaxol (7), and taxol C (8) were isolated from the extracts of EtOAc and MeOH in 0.010%, 0.002%, and 0.001% yields, respectively. Taxuyunnanine C (2) and its 14-acyloxy derivatives 3, 4, 5 and 6 were obtained from these extracts in 0.135%, 0.014%, 0.009%, 0.275% and 0.053% yields respectively.


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