Ergosterol Production Under Optimized Conditions by Penicillium Crustosum Thom

Penicillium crustosum Thom was succesfully used for sterols production using clarified beet molasses (BM) as the sole carbon source. High yields of sterols and ergosterol were accumulated in the presence of some streol precursors (squalene or pyruvate). A cheep and economic fermentation medium that favoured maximum streol and ergostrerol yileds was found to contain the following ingredients (g/1): H2SO4-treated BM, 90; corn steep solid, 30; initial pH 7.0 and incubation period for 8 days. The GLC analyses revealed the formation of ergosterol (62.1%), stigmasterol (17.2%), fungisterol (16.4%), and lanosterol (4.3%).