Employing response surface methodology (RSM) for efficient taxane production optimization in endophytic fungi from corylus avellana

Mohammadi Ballakuti, Narjes; Ghanati, Faezeh

doi:10.22034/jpr.2026.8647.3416

Employing response surface methodology (RSM) for efficient taxane production optimization in endophytic fungi from corylus avellana

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Narjes Mohammadi Ballakuti ¹

Faezeh Ghanati ²

¹ Plant Physiology, Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

² Plant Sciences, Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares Education, Tehran, Iran

10.22034/jpr.2026.8647.3416

Abstract

Paclitaxel is one of the most important secondary metabolites with broad-spectrum anticancer activity, traditionally extracted from the bark of Taxus sp. Due to environmental and economic limitations of plant-based extraction, endophytic fungi have been considered as potential alternative sources. In the present study, the endophytic strain Cryptosporiopsis tarraconensis, isolated from hazelnut (Corylus avellana) leaves, was investigated for optimizing taxane production conditions. Four environmental variables pH, benzoic acid (BA), glucose, and hazelnut cell wall were selected as influential factors and evaluated using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) with a Box-Behnken design. The results showed that only the concentration of BA had a significant effect on taxane production (p < 0.001). According to the proposed model, the optimal conditions were determined as pH 6, 1.8 mM BA, 3.5% glucose, and 0.3 g of cell wall. Under these conditions, taxane production reached 3.21 mg/L, which was approximately 70% (1.7-fold) higher than the control (1.89 mg/L). These findings demonstrate that RSM enables the identification of key factors, allows simultaneous analysis of multiple variables, and reduces unnecessary experiments, saving both time and cost.

Keywords

Taxane

Endophytic fungus

Corylus avellana

Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

Subjects