The Stimulation of the Anticancer Chemical Taxol in Taxus baccata

Abstract Taxol is an anticancer drug that is widely used in cancer treatment worldwide. Since the source of the drug is a plant, the increase in its production is one of the concerns of researchers. One way to increase the production of Taxol is to use stimulants for secondary metabolite production. Therefore, in this study, methyl jasmonate was used as a bioelicitor, and its effect on Taxol production was evaluated. For this purpose, Taxus baccata was elicited for 48 and 72 hours with concentrations at 0, 100, 250, and 500 μM methyl jasmonate, and the quantities of Taxol in the leaf and stem explants were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that among the leaf and stem explants, a tremendous amount of Taxol production is related to the leaf, which is a great advantage in reducing the number of trees cut down to obtain Taxol. In addition, the 48-hour elicitation time demonstrated the best result in the production of Taxol. The optimal concentration of methyl jasmonate was also estimated at 500 μM and 0.326 mg/g of dried leaf biomass. The results of this experiment showed that methyl jasmonate has the potential to be used as a biological elicitor to produce considerable amounts of Taxol in Taxus baccata.