BIOTRANSFORMATION OF COMPACTIN TO PRAVASTATIN BY ACTINOMADURA SP. 2966

Actinomadura sp. strain 2966 can effectively convert compactin to prav astatin. The degree of conversion observed was 65% to 78% of compactin added and 65% to 88% of compactin taken up, depending on the concentr ation of compactin and duration of the experiment. Increasing the comp actin concentration resulted in a higher final pravastatin concentrati on especially when compactin was added intermittently. Higher glucose concentrations had no effect on the bioconversion although uptake of c ompactin was inhibited. The conversion was linear over 16 hours. The s ystem requires no induction and thus appears to be different from prev iously studied hydroxylases from actinomycetes.