Engineering Rice Based Medium for Production of Lovastatin with Monascus Species

Panda B.P., Javed S., Ali M. (2009): Engineering rice based medium for production of lovastatin with Monascus species. Czech J. Food Sci., 27: 352–360. Angkak (red mold rice, red yeast rice, Chinese red rice), a traditional Chinese functional food is produced by solid-state fermentation of cooked non-glutinous rice with Monascus species. The secondary metabolite of Monascus species, monacolin K (lovastatin), has been proved to lower blood lipid levels. In this study, the best Monascus purpureus strain was selected from MTCC 369, 410, 1090 based on lovastatin concentration. Four medium parameters (NH4Cl, MgSO4, NaCl, CaCl2) screened by Plackett-Burman design from total nine medium variables were optimised by Box-Behnken design of response surface methodology. Maximum lovastatin production of 3.420 mg/g was predicted in the solid medium containing 20 g rice and 40 ml liquid nutrient (NH4Cl 14.32 g/l, MgSO4 0.76 g/l, NaCl 14.65 g/l, and CaCl2 0.54 g/l) by the point prediction tool of Design Expert Ver. 7.1 software at 14th day of fermentation.