Selection of fungi for biotransformation of lupeol

Biotransformation is a process in which specific modifications occur on the compound by using microorganisms as biocatalysts. In this study, the main process involved was biotransformation. Fungi were used as the microorganisms which responsible to perform the process. There are many advantages in performing biotransformation, one of them is to obtain products with a lot of benefits to human health while it helps to reduce cost by removing the needs for isolation, purification and stabilization of pure enzymes. In this study, lupeol was used as the substrate. Six fungi were used to help in biotransformation which includes Absidia coerulea, Beauveria bassiana, Cunnighamella elegans, Penicillium lapidosum., Trichothecium roseum and Verticillium lecanii. The fermentation of the lupeol with the fungi after 4 days and 8 days may produce useful secondary metabolites. The extracts of the fermented lupeol with fungi were then subjected to High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with Diode Array Detector (DAD) at 220 nm to identify the presence of any new compounds. The peaks of the extracts in the chromatograms were compared with lupeol and negative controls chromatograms. As a result, the HPLC profiles of only Cunnighamella elegans and Verticillium lecanii showed transformation of lupeol.