An Inverse Correlation Between the Production of Itaconic and Mevinolinic Acids in Aspergillus terreus Mutants

The high producer A. terreus ATWD 136 and the world A. terreus FRR 5360 wild strains were used to improve their productivity by physical mutagenesis. The production was decreased in all the mutants obtained from the mutagenesis of the FRR 5360 strain, while the mutants obtained from the ATWD 136 strain showed different responses in the production. Thus, they were grouped in two categories according to IA/MA production. The first category (three mutants) revealed that UV-irradiation-enhanced IA production, while the production of MA was decreased. The second category (14 mutants) showed an enhancement obtained in the MA production, while the production of IA was decreased. The mutant 16 was the best IA producer (threefold higher than the ATWD 136 parent strain), and the mutant 12 was the best MA producer (twofold higher than the ATWD 136 parent strain). Finally, RAPD–PCR confirmed the presence of different value of genetic variability between the wild A. terreus ATWD 136 and its hyper-producing mutants (M 12 and M 16). From the results, the authors concluded that there is an inverse correlation between level yield of IA and MA in mutated A. terreus strains.