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…