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From: tribalzidane@earthlink.net
Subject: [illusions] Botanical Find of the Century Yields Anti-Cancer Drug
Date: 17 Apr 2001 12:36:52 -0400
To: illusions@beyond-the-illusion.com, snetnews@topica.com

Source URL:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0007/01/features/wollemi6.html

Botanical Find of the Century Yields Anti-Cancer Drug

By JAMES WOODFORD

Scientists have stumbled across an anti-cancer drug and four potential new
antibiotics during a search for unknown life surviving in the inaccessible,
rainforested gorge which hid the Wollemi pine until 1994.

More than 50 different species have been collected during several
expeditions to the stand of pines and almost one-third appear to be new to
science.

A lichen growing on the tree's leaves and 15 types of mushroom and bracket
fungi have been recorded.  Nets set up to catch seeds have also caught a
range of insects, all of which were passed on to the Australian Museum for
further study.

Scientists in Australia and overseas have spent 18 months studying the new
genus of tree - a relic from the dinosaur age, described around the world as
the "botanical find of the century".

These scientists have made several big discoveries, with the tree's
potential medicinal values and early cultivation successes creating
international interest.

Wollemi pine tissue, collected by staff of the Royal Botanic Gardens and the
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, was freeze-dried and vacuum sealed
before being sent to the United States for analysis.

Plant pathologist at Montana State University, Professor Gary Strobel, has
told the Herald he was stunned to find that two new strains of fungi living
inside the tissue produced a known anti-cancer chemical, taxol.

Until now the only sources of taxol, used as a treatment for ovarian and
breast cancer, have been associated with yew trees from the northern
hemisphere.

The new source would be assessed to see if it contained any other useful
chemical compounds and to see if the taxol could be more easily cultured
than from yew trees, Professor Strobel said.

It was vital that such unexplored ecosystems such as the canyon in Wollemi
National Park, where the trees were found, be protected so their
biodiversity could be preserved.

Tests are also under way on the four new penicilliums - the micro-organisms
that produce penicillin - to assess their medicinal qualities.

A plant pathologist from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Dr Brett Summerell, said
the news highlighted how important wild ecosystems, such as those in Wollemi
National Park, were to society.

"We have found one chemical from one fungus - imagine what else is there,"
said Dr Summerell, who helped collect the pine material.

Only about 30 of the wild, adult trees living in two patches within the same
gorge are known to exist, making the species one of the rarest on the
planet.  A search by the national parks service of the rugged
500,000-hectare national park, on foot and by helicopter, appears to have
confirmed that the trees are not growing in any of the other gorges.

But by using wild seeds and cuttings - all kept under lock and key -
horticulturalists at the Mt Annan Botanic Gardens near Campbelltown have
managed to nurture about 500 knee-high Wollemi pine trees into life.

A high-security compound, which will allow the trees to grow outside without
the risk of theft, is soon to be built and each seed, stem and plant is
counted each day to ensure none of the precious material is stolen.  The
program has been so successful that staff expect a Wollemi pine could be put
on public display or even planted at the Royal Botanic Gardens within two
years.

"We are delightfully surprised that they are growing so well," said a
horticultural research officer at the gardens, Ms Cathy Offord.

Dr Rod Peakall and Mr Wes Keys, from the Division of Botany and Zoology at
the Australian National University, have been applying a new DNA
fingerprinting technique to determine if the Wollemi pines in the gorge have
any genetic variability.

One fear held by scientists is that the pines may have no genetic
variability because they are clones or, that after tens of thousands of
years of isolation, they have become highly in-bred.  The greater the gene
pool available to a species, the more likely it is to survive.  "So far we
have found no (genetic) variation in the first site (of the pines)," Dr
Peakall said.
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