抗原变异可使得多种致病微生物易于逃避宿主免疫应答。表达在感染红细胞表面的恶性疟原虫红细胞表面蛋白1（PfPMP1）与感染红细胞、内皮细胞、树突状细胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用，在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作用。每个单倍体基因组var基因家族编码约60种成员，通过启动转录不同的var基因变异体为抗原变异提供了分子基础。

疟原虫var基因转换速率变化导致抗原变异[英]／Paul H, Robert P, Christodoulou Z, et al//Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

J. Appl. Cryst.の発刊に際して

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2019/NP/C8NP00092A

Marine natural products.

Natural products: a continuing source of novel drug leads.

Endophytic microorganisms are to be found in virtually every plant on earth. These organisms reside in the living tissues of the host plant and do so in a variety of relationships, ranging from symbiotic to slightly pathogenic. Because of what appears to be their contribution to the host plant, the endophytes may produce a plethora of substances of potential use to modern medicine, agriculture, and industry. Novel antibiotics, antimycotics, immunosuppressants, and anticancer compounds are only a few examples of what has been found after the isolation, culture, purification, and characterization of some choice endophytes in the recent past. The potential prospects of finding new drugs that may be effective candidates for treating newly developing diseases in humans, plants, and animals are great.

/pdf/bioprospecting-for-microbial-endophytes-and-their-natural-1urge3dlj5.pdf

Bioprospecting for Microbial Endophytes and Their Natural Products

Taxomyces andreanae, a fungal endophyte, was isolated from the phloem (inner bark) of the Pacific yew, Taxus brevifolia. The fungus is hyphomyceteous and, when grown in a semi-synthetic liquid medium, produced taxol and related compounds. Taxol was identified by mass spectrometry, chromatography, and reactivity with monoclonal antibodies specific for taxol. Both [1-14C]acetic acid and L-[U-14C]phenylalanine served as precursors of [14C]taxol in fungal cultures. No taxol was detected in zero-time cultures or in the small agar plugs used to inoculate the culture flasks.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/260/5105/214.full.pdf

Taxol and Taxane Production by Taxomyces andreanae, an Endophytic Fungus of Pacific Yew

Anticancer compounds derived from fungal endophytes: their importance and future challenges.

Endophytic microbes associated with the Pacific yew tree, Taxus brevifolia, were examined as potential sources of the anticancer drug taxol [1], a secondary metabolite of the host organism. The first promising organism found was the novel fungus, Taxomyces andreanae, which was isolated from the inner bark of a yew tree growing in northwestern Montana. It appears to produce taxol and other taxanes in de novo fashion when grown in semi-synthetic liquid media. The presence of 1 in the fungal extract was confirmed by mass spectrometry, comparative chromatographic behavior with "yew" taxol, reactivity with taxol-specific monoclonal antibodies, and 9KB cytotoxicity studies. Both acetate-1-14C and phenylalanine UL-14C served as precursors of taxol-14C in fungal culture labeling studies, confirming the de novo synthesis of 1 by the fungus. Immunoassay techniques are currently being used to screen extracts of Taxomyces andreanae for new taxanes, and to determine if other endophytic fungi are taxol producers.

The search for a taxol-producing microorganism among the endophytic fungi of the Pacific yew, Taxus brevifolia.

Berkeley Pit Lake is an abandoned open-pit copper mine filled with 30 billion gallons of acidic, metal-contaminated water This harsh environment is proving to be a source of unusual microorganisms that produce novel bioactive metabolites Bioassay-guided fractionation using signal transduction enzyme assays led to the isolation of the novel spiroketal, berkelic acid 1, and of the known γ-pyrone, spiciferone A 4 Berkelic acid has shown selective, nanomolar activity against OVCAR-3, an ovarian cancer cell line in the National Cancer Institute cell line screen The isolation and characterization of these compounds are reported here

Donald B. Stierle

Papers

Taxol and Taxane Production by Taxomyces andreanae, an Endophytic Fungus of Pacific Yew

Anticancer compounds derived from fungal endophytes: their importance and future challenges.

The search for a taxol-producing microorganism among the endophytic fungi of the Pacific yew, Taxus brevifolia.

Berkelic acid, a novel spiroketal with selective anticancer activity from an acid mine waste fungal extremophile.

Some Metabolites of the Marine Sponges Smenospongia aurea and Smenospongia (= Polyfibrospongia) echina