Bioprospecting lovastatin production from a novel producer Cunninghamella blakesleeana.

Beside anti-cholesterol activity, lovastatin garners worldwide attention for therapeutical application against various diseases especially cancer. A total of 36 filamentous fungi from soil samples were isolated and screened for lovastatin production by yeast growth bioassay method. C9 strain (later identified as Cunninghamella blakesleeana) was screened as potential strain of lovastatin production. Further confirmation of the compound was made using TLC, HPTLC and HPLC in which similar Rf value, densitogram peak and chromatogram peak against the standard lovastatin were observed, respectively. The purified lovastatin subjected for IR analysis showed a lactone ring peak at 1763.63 cm-1 similar to standard lovastatin. Further structural analysis including NMR and LC-MS of the purified lovastatin reassures the molecular formula and molecular weight similar to standard. In quantitative terms, C. blakesleeana, Aspergillus terreus and Aspergillus flavus produced 1.4 mg g-1 DWS, 0.83 mg g-1 DWS and 0.3 mg g-1 DWS of lovastatin, respectively, (p < 0.0001) without any optimization. Lovastatin showed significant antioxidant property with IC50: 145.9 µg mL-1 (140 µL), and the percentage of inhibition is maximum at 199.5 µg/mL which is statistically significant (p < 0.0001).