In vitro study of two species of yew tree in terms of endophytic diversity and paclitaxel variation

Due to the slow growth of the yew tree and importance of its metabolites, today, the paclitaxel producing endophytes have been found to be of great research interest. To that extent, in no presence of endophyte, the production of taxol in plant is not possible. In the present study, it has been tried beside the investigation of the qualitative changes of callus from the point of paclitaxel, the endophytic situation of it also be studied. For this purpose, an experiment was conducted with three levels of 1, 2 and 3 mg/L of 2, 4-D, and two levels of 0.5 and 0.2 mg/L of Kinetin in two species of T.baccata and T.brevifolia. Finally, the amount of paclitaxel and the endophytic status in callus were studied. After 3 months of cultivation, 9 colonies of the endophytic fungi appeared in the callus of both species and leaves of T.baccata. The isolated fungi were identified based on their morphology and reproductive organs, such as the formation of spores. Although molecular and biochemical studies of isolated endophytes did not show the ability to produce taxol in them, endophytic fungi in the yew callus, which was first reported, could be a turning point in a better understanding of host and endophytic fungi in the production of valuable metabolites of paclitaxel, especially in cell and hairy root cultures.