Recovery and purification of rapamycin from the culture broth of Mtcc 5681.

In this study of the recovery and purification of rapamycin from the culture broth of an actinomycetes strain MTCC 5681, we investigated various factors such as biomass separation, suitable solvents for extraction, normal phase and flash chromatographic conditions and selective precipitation to obtain rapamycin in substantially pure form of the product. Adsorption chromatography particularly with normal phase and flash chromatography, in combination with centrifugal decantation is found to be the most suitable for separation as well as purification of rapamycin. Centrifugal decantation technique is likely to emerge as an efficient, industrially scalable, high yielding and economical process for biomass separation.

Improvement of microbial strain and fermentation process of rapamycin biosynthesis.

The purpose of this investigation is to enhance the production of the immunosuppressant drug rapamycin by subjecting the strain CBS 773.23 to ultraviolet (UV) and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitroso guanidine (NTG) mutations. Among all the mutants tested, MTCC 5681 (NRC-CM03/SH) obtained by NTG mutagenesis of strain CBS 773.