Studies on process optimization methods for rapamycin production using Streptomyces hygroscopicus ATCC 29253.

Rapamycin is a high-value product finding immense use as a drug, in organ transplantation, and as a potential immunosuppressant. Optimization of fermentation parameters of rapamycin production by Streptomyces hygroscopicus NRRL 5491 has been carried out. The low titer value of rapamycin in the original producer strain limits its applicability at industrial level. This study aims at improving the production of rapamycin by optimizing the nutrient requirements. Addition of L-lysine increased the production of rapamycin up to a significant level which supports the fact that it acts as precursor for rapamycin production, as found in previous studies. Effect of optimized medium on the Streptomyces growth rate as well as rapamycin production has been studied. The optimization study incorporates one at a time parameter optimization studies followed by tool-based hybrid methodology. This methodology includes the Plackett-Burman design (PBD) method, artificial neural networks (ANN), and genetic algorithms (GA). PBD screened mannose, soyabean meal, and L-lysine concentrations as significant factors for rapamycin production. ANN was used to construct rapamycin production model. This strategy has led to a significant increase of rapamycin production up to 320.89 mg/L at GA optimized concentrations of 25.47, 15.39, and 17.48 g/L for mannose, soyabean meal, and L-lysine, respectively. The present study must find its application in scale-up study for industrial level production of rapamycin.