Abstract

Lovastatin is an anti-lipidemic drug produced by various filamentous fungi as a secondary metabolite. In our study, Pleurotus ostreatus was used in the production of lovastatin by solid state fermentation process. P. ostreatus was grown on different substrate (wheat bran, rice bran, rice straw, sugarcane bagasse), from which the maximum yield was obtained when wheat bran was used as a substrate in solid substrate fermentation. Further, wheat bran was used as a substrate and was grown on different temperatures (25, 28, 32 and 35°C), in which a maximum yield was obtained at 28°C. To determine its anti-lipidemic property and other medicinal properties like anti cancer, Alzheimer's disease a docking study was done using Auto dock Vina, in which various proteins responsible for the disease are targeted and studied. The docking studies prove that lovastatin can effectively help in the treatment of various diseases by effectively binding to various proteins which are responsible for cancer, apoptosis and Alzheimer's.

Key words: Lovastatin, fermentation, wheat bran, hydroxymethylglutaryl CoA reductases, Alzheimer disease.