MICROBIAL CONVERSION OF SUGAR CANE PHYTOSTEROLS BY FUSARIUM SOLANI

Air dried press cake of sugar cane (5 Kg) yielded on extraction with cold acetone 500 g of waxy residue which gave on saponification 150gm. Un-saponifiable matter. Gas chromatography and mass spectroscopic analysis of the present sterols revealed that the phytosterol mixture consists of ?- sit sterol (46.4%), stigma sterol (21.4%) and camp sterol (27.9 %).This sterol mixture was subjected to the activities of some selected locally isolated fungal strains. Fusarium solani was the most potent organism to produce 4-androstenedione (AD) and 1,4 androstadiene 3,17 dione (ADD). The maximum yield of ADD (34.6%) was obtained in a medium containing (g/l) 0.15 MgSO4. 7H2O, 0.188, KH2PO4, 0.38, (NH4)2 HPO4, 0.1 , CaCl2. 2H2O, 0.29 , NaCl, 0.001 FeSO4 and 0.8 mg 8-hydroxyquinoline, pH 7.1at transformation time 48 hr, 30°C .