title: Screening and selection of lovastatin hyper-producing mutants of Aspergillus terreus using cyclic mutagenesis.
abstract: 134 fungal cultures isolated from different soil samples were screened for lovastatin production. Of these, 38 isolates produced different levels of lovastatin. An Aspergillus terreus strain GD13, producing 190 mg/l of lovastatin was selected and subjected to a rational mutation-selection programme based on the resistance to lovastatin and fatty acid synthase (FAS) inhibitors, viz., iodoacetamide and N-ethylmaleimide. After three cycles of mutagenesis, a hyper-producing mutant (EM19) exhibiting 7.5-fold (1424 mg/l) higher levels of lovastatin when compared to wild type parent strain was obtained.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar-143005, India.
authors.forename: Harleen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.forename: Amarjeet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Saini
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Chadha
mesh_terms: D001230:Aspergillus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D005033:Ethylmaleimide / Q000494:pharmacology; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D007460:Iodoacetamide / Q000494:pharmacology; D008148:Lovastatin / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology; D016296:Mutagenesis; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; D008148:Lovastatin; D005033:Ethylmaleimide; D007460:Iodoacetamide