THE OPTIMIZATION OF TRIPTOQUINONE PRODUCTION BY CUNNINGHAMELLA-ELEGANS USING FACTORIAL DESIGN

Previous studies in our laboratory have shown that the synthetic abiet ane diterpene, triprophenolide is metabolized by the filamentous fungu s, Cunninghamella elegans to three products: triptoquinone, 5 alpha,14 -dihydroxybutenolide, and 14 beta-glucosyltriptophenolide in yields of 35, 12, and 5%, respectively. The purpose of this study was to increa se the yield of the triptoquinone while simultaneously decreasing the production of the other metabolites. The effects of four factors (gluc ose concentration, nutrient broth concentration, malt extract concentr ation, and biotransformation lime) on the yield of triptoquinone were assessed using a sequential factorial design. Biotransformation time w as critical for the production of triptoquinone whereas the concentrat ion of the medium components affected the yield of triptoquinone to a lesser extent The optimal factor levels for its formation (41% yield) did not correspond to the settings for maximal biomass production. Sim ilarly, the pH of the growth medium was nor correlated to the yield to triptoquinone. A second optimization experiment was performed using f actor levels within a narrower range of the settings determined from t he first experiment. The yield of triptoquinone predicted by the mathe matical model increased to 70% and this value was confirmed experiment ally.