OPTIMIZATION OF AN ANTI-CANCER METABOLITE PRODUCTION BY PENICILLIUM RUBENS JGIPR9 VIA RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY

There are many pharmaceutically important compounds from Penicillium sp. that made the fungal genera one of the most important sources for the production of bioactive metabolites. As per the results of our previous study, a bioactive metabolite, P5, from Penicillium rubens JGIPR9 had highly promising cytotoxic and anti-cancer potentials. This prompted us to undertake the current study, so as to optimize the culture conditions of this fungal isolate and thereby to enhance its growth, i.e., biomass (response 1) and production of the anti-cancer metabolite P5 (response 2). Initially, the single factor method was adopted to screen the individual culture conditions that would enhance the responses under the study. The best factors being CdCl₂, glucose, amino acid concentrate, and beef extract were subjected to Central Composite Design (CCD) to identify the optimal conditions that enhance the responses. The biomass dry weight ranged from 11.9-24.1 g/L and that of P5 concentration ranged from 257-774 mg/L. The optimal conditions were verified experimentally and 3.24-fold and 12.21-fold increase were observed for responses 1 and 2 respectively in comparison to the basal culture conditions.