Microbial transformation of lovastatin by Beauveria bassiana

AbstractMicrobial transformation of lovastatin (1) by resting cells of a filamentous fungus, Beauveria bassiana AS 3.4270, yielded five metabolites (2–6), which were unambiguously characterized by various spectroscopic data analyses. The occurred reactions included hydroxylation, lactone hydrolysis and methylation. The inhibitory effects of all metabolites on the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase were evaluated. Of the five compounds, 4 exhibited comparable inhibitory effect to lovastatin on the HMG-CoA reductase with IC50 value of 2.2μM, and inhibitory rate of 81.4%