Paclitaxel production by actinomycetes

This application is a National Stage Application of International Application Serial No. PCT/EP99/00417, filed on Jan. 21, 1999, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to GB 9803628.8, filed on Feb. 20, 1998, and GB 9809767.8, filed on May 7, 1998. The present invention related to microorganisms producing taxanes, such as paclitaxel or related taxanes, to the use of said microorganisms for the production of taxanes, and to the procedure for the isolation of said microorganisms from plants. In particular, the present invention relates to microorganisms of the Actinomycetes group producing taxanes as well as to the biologically pure cultures of a strain of the Actinomycetes group which produces taxanes. The microorganisms of Actinomycetes group are preferably belonging to the suprageneric groups of Streptomycetes, Actinoplanetes, Maduromycetes, Thermomonosporas or Nocardioforms, more preferably they are belonging to genus Streptomyces, Actinoplanes, Nocardiopsis, Micromonospora, Actinomadura or Kitasatosporia, still more preferably to the genus Kitasatosporia. A particularly preferred microorganism is Kitasatosporia sp. CECT 4991.