Lovastatin Production from Aspergillus Terreus ATCC 20542 Under Various Vegetable Oils Used as Sole and Supplementary Carbon Sources

Abstract

The effect of vegetable oils used as sole and supplementary carbon sources on the production of lovastatin by Aspergillus terreus ATCC 20542 and their biomass in submerged fermentation has been examined. Eleven different types of edible vegetable oils were tested including camellia tea oil, canola oil, coconut oil, corn oil, olive oil, palm olein oil, rice bean oil, safflower oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil. All selected oils can improve the yield of target product at least 2 times. The maximum yield was 87.18 g/L with supplementary 1% w/v coconut oil, which was about 11 times higher than that obtained from the oil-free control. Fungal biomass was proportional to vegetable oil concentration, but an excessive concentration of oil resulted in a lower yield. Substitutions of coconut oil and soybean oil at any quantities for lactose used as sole carbon source showed very low concentrations of lovastatin. These findings indicate that vegetable oils can be used for supporting fungal growth more than the secondary metabolite production. It can be concluded that easily available vegetable oil is a very promising adjuvant for lovastatin production.