Bioconversion of lovastatin to simvastatin by Streptomyces carpaticus towards the inhibition of HMG-CoA activity.

The aim of this study was modification of lovastatin by microbes to improve its potential. Actinobacteria exhibit staggering diversity in terms of their biosynthetic capability for specialized metabolites which has been traced back to the presence of specialized gene clusters. The objective of the study is to exploit the potential of Actinobacteria strain(s), which can bio-transform lovastatin to simvastatin, which might be a more potent therapeutic agent than lovastatin. We have screened 40 Actinobacteria strains and assessed their biotransformation potential primarily through TLC analysis, followed by HPTLC, and HPLC analysis. One strain C7 (CTL S12) has been identified as a potential actinobacteria which favored the simvastatin biotransformation. The morphological and biochemical analysis together with 16s rRNA sequencing coupled with phylogenetic analysis confirmed the ideal strain (C7) as Streptomyces carpaticus. Successively, the purified simvastatin from S. carpaticuswas characterized by LC-MS, IR, NMR, and HMG-CoA assay. In LC-MS analysis, a peak at 419.24 m/z confirmed the elemental composition of simvastatin (C 25 H 39 O 5 ). In HMG-CoA assay, the IC50 of simvastatin was 50μg/mL, and the inhibitory potential was 1.36 times higher compared to that of lovastatin. Thus, the biotransformation of simvastatin from lovastatin by S. carpaticusis reported for the first time. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.