Tissue cultures of Taxus baccata as a source of 10-deacetylbaccatin III, a precursor for the hemisynthesis of taxol.

Callus cultures of Taxus baccata L. cv. stricta were induced from hypocotyl and leaf explants on Woody Plant medium (hormone-free or additionated with phytohormones). Under continuous dark condition, adventitious roots were regenerated from hypocotyl- and leaf-derived callus cultures. Antibodies raised in rabbits against 10-succinyl-10-deacetylbaccatin III were used for the detection and the semi-quantitative determination of 10-deacetylbaccatin III in Taxus cultures. The presence of 10-deacetylbaccatin III in callus extracts was confirmed by TLC, HPLC using a photodiode array detector and mass spectrometry (CI-MS). The highest equivalent content of the taxoid derivatives (7.83 mg/100 g dry wt.) was detected in an extract from leaf-derived callus.