Production of lovastatin and itaconic acid by Aspergillus terreus: a comparative perspective

Abstract

Aspergillus terreus is a textbook example of an industrially relevant filamentous fungus. It is used for the biotechnological production of two valuable metabolites, namely itaconic acid and lovastatin. Itaconic acid serves as a precursor in polymer industry, whereas lovastatin found its place in the pharmaceutical market as a cholesterol-lowering statin drug and a precursor for semisynthetic statins. Interestingly, their biosynthetic gene clusters were shown to reside in the common genetic neighborhood. Despite the genomic proximity of the underlying biosynthetic genes, the production of lovastatin and itaconic acid was shown to be favored by different factors, especially with respect to pH values of the broth. While there are several reviews on various aspects of lovastatin and itaconic acid production, the survey on growth conditions, biochemistry and morphology related to the formation of these two metabolites has never been presented in the comparative manner. The aim of the current review is to outline the correlations and contrasts with respect to process-related and biochemical discoveries regarding itaconic acid and lovastatin production by A. terreus.

Submerged Fermentation of Jatropha curcas Seedcake in Production of Itaconic Acid by Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus terreus

“…An initial low pH has been suggested to enable the cells develop the biochemical machinery for IA production (Boruta and Bizukojc, 2017). The optimum pH that gave the highest IA yields were pH 2.5 producing 204 g L -1 and pH 3.5 producing 195 g L -1 by A. niger and A. terreus respectively ( Figure 3).…”

Butyrolactone-I from Coral-Derived Fungus Aspergillus terreus Attenuates Neuro-Inflammatory Response via Suppression of NF-κB Pathway in BV-2 Cells

“…It is famous for its two valuable metabolites: Lovastatin and itaconic acid. The former is a cholesterol-lowering drug, while the latter is widely used in polymer manufacturing [ 8 ]. In addition, many researches have been conducted to explore and identify more lead compounds derived from A. terreus .…”

Bioconversion of Lactose from Cheese Whey to Organic Acids

“…No reports of microbial obtention of tartaric (C 4 H 6 O 6 , dicarboxylic acid), itaconic (C 5 H 6 O 4 , dicarboxylic acid), and fumaric acid (C 4 H 4 O 4 , dicarboxylic acid) from lactose have been found. Some of those, however, can be obtained indirectly, since there are published studies of the biosynthesis of itaconic acid [135][136][137], fumaric acid [138,139] from glucose, and the latter can be obtained from the chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis of lactose.…”