Lovastatin-producing endophytic fungus isolated from a medicinal plant Solanum xanthocarpum

Abstract

Lovastatin is a potent drug for lowering blood cholesterol. An endophytic fungus Phomopsis vexans was isolated from the healthy leaf tissues of Solanum xanthocarpum, a medicinal plant, and screened for lovastatin production. The fungus was identified by their characteristic cultural morphology and molecular analysis. The strain had a component with the same TLC Rf value and HPLC retention time as authentic lovastatin. The presence of lovastatin was further confirmed by FT-IR, UV, (1)H, (13)C NMR and LC-MS analyses. The amount of lovastatin produced by this endophytic fungus was quantified to be 550 mg/L, and thus the fungus can serve as a potential material to improve the production of lovastatin.

Biosynthesis of Polyketides in Streptomyces

“…Polyketides exhibit a wide range of bioactivities such as antibacterial (e.g., tetracycline), antifungal (e.g., amphotericin B), anticancer (e.g., doxorubicin), antiviral (e.g., balticolid), immune-suppressing (e.g., rapamycin), anti-cholesterol (e.g., lovastatin), and anti-inflammatory activity (e.g., flavonoids) [3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. Some organisms can produce polyketides such as bacteria (e.g., tetracycline from Streptomyces aureofaciens ) [10], fungi (e.g., lovastatin from Phomopsis vexans ) [11], plants (e.g., emodin from Rheum palmatum ) [12], protists (e.g., maitotoxin-1 from Gambierdiscus australes ) [13], insects (e.g., stegobinone from Stegobium paniceum ) [14], and mollusks (e.g., elysione from Elysia viridis ) [15]. These organisms could use the polyketides they produce as protective compounds and for pheromonal communication in the case for insects.…”

Comparative Study on Whole Genome Sequences of Aspergillus terreus (Soil Fungus) and Diaporthe ampelina (Endophytic Fungus) with Reference to Lovastatin Production

“…Researchers have screened several microbes for the production of lovastatin, a secondary metabolite, from various niches [26]. Although, there are many endophytic fungi that are being exploited for various pharmaceutically valuable secondary metabolites, there are a very few reports of lovastatin being produced by endophytic fungi [19,22]. A study demonstrated that the endophytic fungi are poor producers of lovastatin since none of the 54 endophytic fungi isolated by us from medicinal plants produced lovastatin even after prolonged growth period [20].…”

“…Therefore, they are exploited to grow as axenic cultures on synthetic media under controlled conditions (devoid of interaction with host plant) for the production of commercially valuable secondary metabolites with anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiparasitic, antiviral, and antimicrobial properties. However, there are very few reports on the production of lovastatin by endophytic fungi [19,22,23].…”

Secondary Metabolites from Natural Products

“…In bacteria, the actinomycetes (streptomycetes) produce a significant number of chemically distinct secondary metabolites [73][74][75][76]. Other major sources include soil pseudomonas, bacilli, and myxococci [77][78][79][80]. An example of a bacterial secondary metabolite is botulinum toxin synthesized by Clostridium botulinum, with a positive and negative effect on humans.…”