Isolation, screening and rapid confirmation of lovastatin producing strains of Aspergillus terreus

Abstract

Studies were undertaken to isolate various strains of Aspergillus terreus from soils of different regions in Karnataka state, India and to evaluate their ability to produce lovastatin through agar plug-Neurospora crassa bioassay method. A. terreus KLVB 28 exhibited maximum zone of inhibition against N. crassa FGSC 4200. It was observed that estimation of Rf values through TLC and ? max at 238 nm through UV spectral analysis can serve as economic alternatives to HPLC for confirming lovastatin production by fungal cultures.