[One-step fermentation for producing simvastatin via RNAi silencing of lovF gene in Aspergillus terreus]

Simvastatin is one of the important prescription drugs for hypercholesterolemia. Monacolin J is a key intermediate during simvastatin synthesis, and also an intermediate of lovastatin biosynthesis. In this work, we construct a monacolin J producing strain via RNA interference to achieve one-step fermentation to obtain simvastatin. The lovF gene silencing plasmid pMHJ137 was constructed and transformed into Aspergillus terreus by Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation method. Precursor DMB-S-MMP was supplied during the fermentation to screen positive strains of transformants; which also further confirmed the simvastatin producing capability of MJ1-24 by one-step fermentation. Strain MJ1-24 produced monacolin J rather than lovastatin, and the feeding of DMB-S-MMP resulted in the generation of simvastatin. This study suggested that RNAi can efficiently silence the lovF gene of A. terreus and promote the simvastatin production by one-step fermentation.