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Enhanced lovastatin production by solid state fermentation ofMonascus ruber

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to optimize the solid state cultivation ofMonascus ruber on sterile rice. A single-level-multiple-factor and a single-factor-multiple-level experimental design were employed to determine the optimal medium constituents and to optimize carbon and nitrogen source concentrations for lovastatin production. Simultaneous quantitative analyses of the β-hydroxyacid form and β-hydroxylactone for of lovastatin were performed by the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with a UV photodiode-array (PDA) detector. The total lovastatin yield (4≈6 mg/g, average of five repeats) was achieved by adding soybean powder, glycerol, sodium nitrate, and acetic acid at optimal composition of the medium increased by almost 2 times the yield observed prior to optimization. The experimental results also indicated that the β-hydroxylactone form of lovastatin (LFL) and the β-hydroxyacid form of lovastatin (AFL) simultaneously existed in solid state cultures ofMonascus ruber, while the latter was the dominant form in the middle-late stage of continued fermentation. These results indicate that optimized culture conditions can be used for industrial production of lovastatin to obtain high yields.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science and Technology, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology Chungnam National University, 305-764, Taejon, Korea

    Bao-Jun Xu, **ao-Qin Jia & Chang-Keun Sung

  2. The pharmaceutical Institute, Dalian University, 116622, Dalian, China

    Bao-Jun Xu

  3. College of Food and Bioengineering, South China University of Technology, 510640, Guangzhou, China

    Qi-Jun Wang

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  1. Bao-Jun Xu
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  3. **ao-Qin Jia
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  4. Chang-Keun Sung
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Correspondence to Chang-Keun Sung.

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Xu, BJ., Wang, QJ., Jia, XQ. et al. Enhanced lovastatin production by solid state fermentation ofMonascus ruber . Biotechnol. Bioprocess Eng. 10, 78–84 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02931187

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02931187

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