Enhancement of taxol production by in situ recovery of product

Abstract

The effects of addition of adsorbents on the production of taxol and taxane compounds were investigated in Taxus cuspidata cell culture. As a suitable adsorbent, the non-ionic exchange resin XAD-4, among several adsorbents tested, showed maximum adsorptive capacity of taxol which resulted from the hydrophobic interaction between them. The biosynthesis of taxol was enhanced by 40-70% by adding XAD resin into the culture medium at 16th days after subculture. Although the productions of cephalomanin and 10-deacetyl baccatin III were greatly increased by adding adsorbents, the production of baccatin III was not increased which may be due to the weak hydrophobic interaction between adsorbents and baccatin III. The refreshment of medium during the cell culture also enhanced the biosynthesis of 10-deacetyl baccatin III, but did not enhance the cephalomanin production.