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Biotransformation of cholesterol to 1,4-androstadiene-3,17-dione (ADD) by Nocardia species

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Abstract

Nocardia sp. was isolated from an exotic soil of the northwestern Himalayas and was capable of selectively cleaving the side chain of sterols (cholesterol and phytosterol) yielding androstane steroids, in the presence of a hydrophobic metal chelating agent, after an incubation period of 24 h. Nocardia sp. was identified on the basis of morphological and biochemical characteristics accomplished with 16S rDNA sequencing. An extracellular production of 1,4-androstadiene-3,17-dione (ADD) was observed in the fermentation medium. The conversion studies were carried out with a cholesterol concentration ranging from 0.3 to 3 g/l, but the fermentation conditions in biotransformation experiments gave the maximum yields (theoretical yield was 90 %) at 0.5 g/l cholesterol concentration with pH 7.2 in the presence of Tween 80 concentration 2 g/l; in addition, th effects of the media were also studied.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biotechnology, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Kakrial, Katra, Jammu & Kashmir, India, 182320

    Preeti Sharma & Parvez S. Slathia

  2. Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR), Near Irrigation Office, Jammu, Jammu & Kashmir, India, 180001

    Priti Somal

  3. Microbial Institute of Technology, University of Saugar, Madhya Pradesh, India, 470003

    Pardeep Mehta

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  1. Preeti Sharma
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  2. Parvez S. Slathia
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  3. Priti Somal
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  4. Pardeep Mehta
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Correspondence to Preeti Sharma.

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Sharma, P., Slathia, P.S., Somal, P. et al. Biotransformation of cholesterol to 1,4-androstadiene-3,17-dione (ADD) by Nocardia species. Ann Microbiol 62, 1651–1659 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-012-0422-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-012-0422-y

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