ABSTRACT
The anti-cancer drug paclitaxel was first discovered in the bark of the Pacific yew and subsequently a precursor was found in the needles of the European yew. Taxus baccata is often called the English yew although its native distribution covers much of Eurasia. Showing remarkable activity in breast and ovarian cancer, paclitaxel passed through Phase I and II trials. With its growing popularity, the cost of production of paclitaxel (even a semi-synthetic version) remained prohibitively high. Following their discovery, paclitaxel is produced relatively cheaply by growing the fungus in large-scale fermentation tanks. For the tree, paclitaxel is a defensive anti-fungal compound, produced by the tree which has activity against a range of wood-destroying fungi that could colonise the bark and destroy it. Similar paclitaxel-producing endophytic fungi exist in other long-lived trees including Ginkgo and the Wollemia pine.
