Production of lovastatin by Aspergillus flavipes NCIM 1209 using rice husk under solid state fermentation

Production of lovastatin was carried out by Aspergillus fischeri NCIM-509 using agro-industrial residue rice husk, as substrate under solid state fermentation. Lovastatin is a potent hypercholesterolemic drug used for lowering blood cholesterol. In recent years, lovastatin has also been reported as a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of various types of tumors and also play a tremendous role in the regulation of the inflammatory and immune response, coagulation process, bone marrow, neovascularization, vascular tone, and arterial pressure. Process parameters like Incubation time (5-days), Temperature (28oC), Moisture content (60%), Inoculum age (4 days), Inoculum volume (30% v/w), pH of the medium(6.0), carbon source (1.5% Lactose) and nitrogen source(1.5% Ammonium Sulphate) were optimized and gave an overall yield of 11.2 mg/gds of lovastatin after optimization.