Recent advancements in fermentation studies for lovastatin biosynthesis

Abstract

Abstract The filamentous fungi such as Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus flavus, Monascus ruber, and Monascus purpureus have been well reported to produce a proven anticholesterol drug, lovastatin. Lovastatin (mevinolin) is a naturally occurring polyketide secondary metabolite present in the Chinese fermented red yeast rice known as angkak or red rice koji. In the year 1987, FDA (Food and Drug Administration, USA) approved lovastatin as a drug for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. Since then it is considered as a medicinally and industrially important secondary metabolite. Various fermentation methods, i.e., Liquid surface (LSF), Submerged (SmF), and Solid-State (SSF) fermentation, employing Aspergillus terreus and A.\xa0flavus cultures are commercially used for lovastatin biosynthesis. The yield of lovastatin from the said fungal strains is generally reported to be low, thus making room for further investigation on increasing its yield by applying new scientific tools. The literature review indicates recent studies of applying newer standard methods, namely Plackett–Burman Design (PBD), Response Surface Methodology (RSM), and hybrid of Artificial Neural Network and Genetic Algorithm (ANN-GA) for the optimization of various nutrients and process parameters for the biosynthesis of lovastatin. This review attempts to elucidate all aspects of lovastatin biosynthesis ranging from various screening methods tested in isolating high-lovastatin yielding fungal strains to high-end biosimulation methodologies to enhance its overall yield.