Background: Berkleasmium
sp. Dzf12, an endophytic fungus from
Dioscorea zingiberensis
, was a high producer of palmarumycin C
13 with various bioactivities. In the present study, the experimental designs based on statistics were employed to evaluate and optimize the medium for palmarumycin C
13 production in mycelia liquid culture of
Berkleasmium sp. Dzf12.
Results: Among various carbon and nitrogen sources, glucose, peptone and yeast extract were found to be the most favourable for palmarumycin C
13 production based on the one-factor-at-a-time experiments. After Plackett-Burman test on the medium, glucose, peptone and yeast extract were further verified to be the most significant factors to stimulate palmarumycin C
13 accumulation. These three factors (
i.e., glucose, peptone and yeast extract) were then optimized through the experiments of central composite design (CCD) and analysis of response surface methodology (RSM). The optimized medium compositions for palmarumycin C
13 production were determined as 42.5 g/l of glucose, 6.5 g/l of peptone, 11.0 g/l of yeast extract, 1.0 g/l of KH
2PO
4, 0.5 g/l of MgSO
4 x 7H
2O, 0.05 g/l of FeSO
4 x 7H
2O, and pH 6.5. Under the optimal culture conditions, the maximum palmarumycin C
13 yield of
Berkleasmium sp. Dzf12 was increased to 318.63 mg/l, which was about 2.5-fold in comparison with that (130.44 mg/l) in the basal medium.
Conclusions: The results indicate that the optimum production of palmarumycin C
13 in
Berkleasmium sp. Dzf12 liquid culture can be achieved by addition of glucose, peptone and yeast extract with their appropriate concentrations in the modified Sabouraud medium.
