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IDENTIFICATION OF GENOTYPES WITH ENHANCED TAXOL AND BACCATIN III PRODUCTION IN POPULATIONS OF TAXUS BACCATA SUBSP. WALLICHIANA (ZUCC.) PILGER ACR

Taxus baccata L. subsp. wallichiana (Zucc.) Pilger, commonly called as Himalayan yew and locally ?Lauth Sallo? is one of the notable species of Nepal. Various parts of this species are used for food, medicine, fuel and other domestic purposes. Himalayan yew, known for the treatment of ovarian and breast cancer has been overexploited and smuggled heavily from eastern Nepal. Ethanol extract of its leaves is heavily exported for manufacturing cancer curing chemical called taxol. The present application is to identify Himalayan yew genotypes with enhanced taxol production for their exploitation through plant cell culture. To achieve this gold we will, first, study the genetic diversity within and across populations of Himalayan yew using SSR markers to identify genetically related groups (genetic structure) across Nepal, second apply plant cell culture to identify yew genotypes with enhanced taxol and baccatin III production within each genetic group and third, establishment of a germplasm bank in Nepal for future evaluation of taxol production and for diversity conservation purposes.