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Taxol contents in various parts of 15 years old yew tree were determined. The descending order of taxol content per unit mass was stem bark, root bark, needle and seed. In the seed, that order was seed coat, embryo and endosperm. The total amount of taxol extractable from a 15 years old yew tree was 1.68 gram. This amount was distributed in needle, stem bark, root bark and seeds as 48.0, 23.8, 27.9 and 0.4%, respectively. Altitudinal variation of taxol content was also observed. More taxol was observed in yew trees grown at high altitude over 1000m above sea level. Calli and suspension cultures were induced from various yew trees. The presence of taxol in cultured cells was established by HPLC. The taxol content in cultured cells were different according to the source of explants. These results may be useful for the goal of large scale taxol production by cultured yew tree cells.
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