Media engineering and strain improvement are critical aspects of microbial biotechnology playing a vital role in enhancing microbial productivity, and ensuring cost-effective bioprocessing. In this investigation, we optimized the various medium components, nutritional condition, and fermentation parameters for the industrial production of phenoxymethylpenicillin or penicillin V (PenV). We have isolated, characterized Penicillium rubens BIONCL P45 strain which initially produced 100 mg/L of PenV. Further, optimization using production medium 4 (PM4) comprising lactose, corn steep solids, sodium sulfate, calcium carbonate, and phenoxy acetic acid lead to a significant increase in production, reaching 430 mg/L. Further improvements through response surface methodology (RSM) predicted a production of 646 mg/L, which was experimentally validated at 685 mg/L. Subsequently, mutagenesis studies using UV (ultraviolet) exposure resulted in the UV-65 mutant, which demonstrated a superior performance, achieving 934 mg/L, surpassing the parental strain. ​These combined strategies lead to a tenfold increase in PenV titer, highlighting their effectiveness in bioprocess development and industrial-scale antibiotic production.

Foreign