New insights into the antifungal activity of Taxus baccata L.

Abstract

Taxus baccata L., yew, is dioecious, small to medium-sized evergreen tree,
native to Europe, Africa and Asia, but it is cultivated worldwide because of its
ornamental features. It is long known that all parts of yew (except for aril) are
toxic, due to the alkaloid taxine. Nevertheless, some parts of yew tree can be
used to treat cancer and as antimicrobial agents. Unlike its antibacterial
properties, antifungal activity of T. baccata is poorly investigated. In this
research, antifungal activity of yew methanolic and aqueous extracts was tested
against Candida albicans ATCC 10231, Aspergillus brasiliensis ATCC 16404,
and Ascosphaera apis MUCL 30769, through the agar well diffusion method.
Leaves, bark and reproductive structures extracts were prepared separately for
male and female plants. Unlike the aqueous, methanolic extracts caused variable
degree of fungal growth inhibition. The strongest inhibition was observed in the
activity of the aril extract against A. brasiliensis and C. albicans, with the activity
of the male bark extract against A. apis following close. Considering the
emerging multidrug resistance in C. albicans, an interesting finding is the
inhibition of this species by all tested methanolic extracts, which is significantly
stronger in comparison to the inhibition by standard antimycotic solution.
According to the available data, male reproductive structures of this species were
not tested earlier for their antifungal activity, and our study showed high level of
antifungal activity of methanolic microstrobili extract. The realized research
indicates great antifungal potential of T. baccata, which should be further
confirmed by more comprehensive studies.