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Establishing Fungal Entomopathogens as Endophytes: Towards Endophytic Biological Control
Published on: April 11, 2013
An endophytic fungus from Nothapodytes foetida that produces camptothecin
Satish Chander Puri1, Vijeshwar Verma, Touseef Amna
1Regional Research Laboratory (CSIR), Canal Road, Jammu Tawi 180001, India.
Abstract:
A fungal endophytic isolate, camptothecin, has been isolated from the inner bark of the plant Nothapodytes foetidafrom the Western coast of India. The fungus, which belongs to the family Phycomycetes, produced the anticancer drug lead compound camptothecin (1) when grown in a synthetic liquid medium (Sabouraud broth) under shake flask and bench scale fermentation conditions. Compound 1 was identified by means of chromatographic and spectroscopic methods. It was also compared with an authentic example for its biological activity against a number of human cancer cell lines. Isolation of an organism producing 1 and its fermentation may, in the future, provide an easily accessible source for the production of this anticancer drug precursor molecule.
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