Endophytic Fungi: A Poor Candidate for the Production of Lovastatin
V. K. Praveen
Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Bangalore University, Bangalore-560056, India
S. D. Bhargavi
Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Bangalore University, Bangalore-560056, India
J. Savitha *
Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Bangalore University, Bangalore-560056, India
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aim: The aim of the present study was to screen soil and endophytic fungi for production of lovastatin.
Methodology: Soil fungi were isolated by dilution plating technique and endophytic fungi from selected medicinal plants by using standard procedures. All isolates were tested for lovastatin production by Solid State Fermentation (SSF) using wheat bran as substrate.
Results: The soil isolate, Aspergillus terreus NCBI (KM017963) showed positive for lovastatin (1.0 mg/G DWS) whereas none of the endophytic fungi tested showed positivefor lovastatin production.
Keywords: Aspergillus terreus, endophytic fungi, Lovastatin, soil fungi