Abstract:

Bioconversion processing of androstenedione (AD) is strongly affected by many factors. Uniform design has been undertaken to evaluate the effects of substrate concentration, plant oil and molasses on bioconversion rate. Through regression analysis, the amounts of sunflower oil and molasses were important factors for bioconversion processing of AD. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the critical factors. Through the analysis of quadratic regression model equation, the optimal processing parameters for bioconversion were 211.63 mL/L sunflower oil, 58.49 mL/L molasses and 6.01g/L phytosterol. The optimal uniform design parameters were 3.2 g/L ammonium nitrate, 0.8 g/L ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, and 0.055 g/L mercury chloride. Under the optimal conditions, the production of AD was 2.55 g/L.

Key words: androstenedione, bioconversion, uniform design, response surface methodology, optimization