Background: Sustainable and commercial production of taxol as an anti cancer drug is a critical point to its clinical application. Nowadays, hazel because of rapid growth and wide range distribution is considered as an alternative source of Taxol. Objective: To increase taxol production the cDNA encoding 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) from Iranian hazel (GeneBank accession number KF306244, showed by CiHMGR) was isolated and over-expressed in pCAMBIA1304 binary vector. The effect of transient over-expression of HMGR in callus and leaf were evaluated on Taxol production. Methods: The calli was established through the culture of immature cotyledon on Murashige and Skoog basal medium supplemented with 2, 4-D and BA. The first strand cDNA of CiHMGR was synthesized by specific primers. Enzymatic assay of recombinant CiHMGR in E. coli were done by western blott and His-tag affinity techniques. Also production of taxol in transformed callus and leaf were evaluated by HPLC analysis. Results: An Open Reading Frame (ORF) with 1698 bp length and a deduced polypeptide with 566 amino acid residues were amplified. The highest and lowest amount of taxol was 0.016 mg/g.DW and 0.004 mg/gDW in transformed calli and untransformed leaves respectively. Conclusion: Generally the over-expression of HMGR increase the total isoprenoids yield, therefore to have high production of target secondary metabolites (taxol) we need both of network of transformed genes and elicited cell culture.

Background: Hazelnut (Corylus avellana) is a species belonging to the genus Corylus. Its various segments contain different metabolites with very valuable medicinal, anti-microbial and anti-cancer properties. Objective: The present study was done to investigation the optimal conditions for hazelnut plants regenerated from cotyledon as explants and invitrotaxol production. Methods: Cotyledon segments were cultured on MS medium containing 2,4-D concentrations of 0, 0.5 and 1 mgl-1 alone or in combination with concentrations of 0, 0.5 and mgl-1 BA for callus induction. For regeneration, Calli were sub-cultured to the same medium and or transferred to the MS medium containing BA at concentrations of 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 mgl-1 Callus was formed in all hormonal treatments. The ability of taxol production in calli was evaluated by adding methyl jasmonat in 0, 10, 40, 70, 100, 130 and 160 µM concentrations. Results: In hormonal treatment including 0.5 mgl-1 2.4-D regeneration was observed. The highest Taxol content (16.7 mg/KgDW) was obtained by adding 130 µM methyl jasmoante against of 4.3 mg/KgDW in control condition. In regenerative treatments maximum number of regenerated shoot (2.5) was in 1 mgl-1 BA. The regenerated shoots were rooted in MS medium containing 2 mg NAA in combination with 0.5 mgl-1 BA. After rooting process, the plantlets with suitable growth (10 cm length) were planted in the mixture of perlite: peat: cocopit in a 1:2:1 ratio and than were placed in a box with a humidity of 90%. The adapted plants were transferred to greenhouse after 4 weeks. Conclusion: This study can be applied as an effective method for callus induction in order to establishment of suspension culture to taxol production and also results can be useful for regeneration of transgenic calli.