Taxol is NOT produced sustainably by endophytic fungi ! – A case study for the damage that scientific papermills can cause for the scientific communities

Over three decades ago, the plant-derived anticancer agent taxol (brand name: paclitaxel) was reported from a fungal endophyte colonizing the producing plant. The hope that this finding could ever result in a sustainable production process has thus far been disappointed. Modern evidence on the evolution of secondary metabolites in plants vs. fungi suggests that this hypothesis (that fungi could produce such complex plant metabolites) is invalid. Still, numerous inconclusive original studies -and in particular, review papers by non-experts in the field-are continuously being published that claim the opposite. The current commentary tries to deal with the topic, taking the findings of –OMICS studies and current state-of-the art mycology into account. This can hopefully help to stop the scientific papermills from further spreading the fake news that fungi were capable of sustainable production of taxol.