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. 2021 Jun 19:2:100044.
doi: 10.1016/j.crmicr.2021.100044. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular characterization of statin-producing Penicillium microfungi isolated from little-explored tropical ecosystems

Emine Seydametova  1   2 , Norazwina Zainol  1
Affiliations

Morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular characterization of statin-producing Penicillium microfungi isolated from little-explored tropical ecosystems

Emine Seydametova et al. Curr Res Microb Sci. .

Abstract

As hypercholesterolemia is a primary risk factor for coronary artery disease and stroke, there is now an increasing demand for cholesterol-lowering drugs. Statins are a group of extremely successful drugs that lower the cholesterol level in the blood. Natural statins are produced by fermentation using different species of microorganisms. The overall aim of the present study was to identify statin-producing microfungi, which were isolated from different types of little-explored mangrove and oil palm plantation soils. Isolated fungal cultures were characterized on the basis of morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular features. Morphological variability was detected amongst the fungal isolates in regard to colony morphology, conidiophores structures, and conidia coloration. Based on their physiological properties and enzyme assays, rapid differentiation of statin-producing isolates was achieved. Further molecular characterization allowed reliable identification of the selected Penicillium microfungi up to the species level. The identified Penicillium cintrinum ESF2M, Penicillium brefeldianum ESF21P, and Penicillium janthinellum ESF26P strains have a scientific interest as novel wild-type producers of natural statins.

Keywords: Filamentous fungi; Identification; Lovastatin; Phylogeny; Pravastatin; Soil.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Image, graphical abstract
Graphical abstract
Fig 1
Fig. 1
Dendrogram based on the Euclidean distance and centroid clustering method showing the relationship between clusters of Penicillium isolates.
Fig 2
Fig. 2
Phylogenetic tree using the neighbor-joining method of representatives of Penicillium species inferred from analysis of the ITS1–5.8S-ITS2 region of rDNA. NCBI accession numbers of the Penicillium species are presented in the brackets.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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