Researchers have unlocked a new means of peering at plant genes. The effort revealed several key enzymes for creating Taxol, also known as paclitaxel. The findings bring researchers much closer to the ...

Mogens EngelundThe Fortingall Yew tree in Perthshire, U.K., could be the oldest living organism in Europe. Crowds of unruly people can be stressful in any situation, but it has been particularly ...

Mysterious tree chemistry Scientists have strained to peek into the yew’s laboratory. Compared to a bacterium like E. coli – whose chromosome carries about 4,000 genes – the yew tree genome ...

Taxol is a widely used chemotherapy drug – it has been used to treat millions of ovarian, breast, and lung cancer patients. Today, it’s mainly produced by extracting its chemical precursor, baccatin ...