A Novel Medium for the Enhanced Production of Cyclosporin A by Tolypocladium inflatum MTCC 557 Using Solid State Fermentation

Cyclosporin A (CyA) produced by Tolypocladium inflatum is a promising drug owing to its immunosuppressive and antifungal activities. From an industrial point of view, the necessity to obtain a suitable and economic medium for higher production of CyA was the aim of this work. The present study evaluated the effect of different fermentation parameters in solid state fermentation, such as selection of solid substrate, hydrolysis of substrates, initial moisture content, supplementation of salts, additional carbon, and nitrogen sources, as well as the inoculum age and size, on production of CyA by Tolypocladium inflatum MTCC 557. The fermentation was carried out at $25{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ for 9 days. A combination of hydrolyzed wheat bran flour and coconut oil cake (1:1) at 70% initial moisture content supported a maximum production of $3,872{\pm}156\;mg$ CyA/kg substrate as compared with $792{\pm}33\;mg/kg$ substrate before optimization. Furthermore, supplementation of salts, glycerol (1% w/w), and ammonium sulfate (1% w/w) increased the production of CyA to $5,454{\pm}75\;mg/kg$ substrate. Inoculation of 5 g of solid substrate with 6 ml of 72-h-old seed culture resulted in a maximum production of $6,480{\pm}95\;mg$ CyA/kg substrate.