BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Lovastatin is one of the most important types of statin drugs, commonly produced by Aspergillus terreus in a liquid culture. Lovatatin use reduces blood cholesterol and prevents heart attacks and vascular stiffness. Since lovastatin is introduced as a valuable secondary metabolite, this study was conducted to analyze the factors effective in morphogenesis of this fungus to increase the industrial production of this drug.
METHODS: For data collection in this review article, the articles containing one of the words "cholesterol", "vascular stiffness", "morphogenesis", "lovastatin", "Aspergillus terreus", and " inducer" between the years 1960 and 2017 were searched and studied in Pubmed, Scopus, Science Direct and Islamic World Science (ISC) databases.
FINDINGS: Overall, 145 articles were found, among which 58 papers were considered appropriate for this study. According to the results of the studies, the slowly metabolized carbon source and combined culture medium, high stirrer speed at 600 rpm, an aeration equal to 70% saturation, an inoculation equal to 10⁷ spores, and the use of inducers such as magnesium silicate hydrate, methionine, butyrolactone and linoleic acid cause a special morphogenesis called Pellet.
CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the type of carbon source has the greatest effect on morphogenesis of pellet. The formation of small pellets reduces the viscosity of the medium, increases the rate of oxygen transfer to microorganisms, and ultimately produces more lovastatin.