Microbial transformation of androst-4-ene-3,17-dione by three fungal species Absidia griseolla var. igachii, Circinella muscae and Trichoderma virens

• Biotransformation of androst-4-ene-3,17-dione (AD) was investigated.
• Three filamentous fungi were used for the biotransformation.
• Absidia griseolla produced 6β, 7α-, 7β-, and 14α-hydroxy-AD.
• Circinella muscae produced 6β-, 7β-, and 14α-hydroxy-AD.
• Testosterone as only product was obtained in biotransformation of AD by Trichoderma virens.

Microbial transformation of androst-4-ene-3,17-dione (AD;I) by three fungal species including Absidia griseolla var. igachii, Circinella muscae and Trichoderma virens was investigated for the first time. While A. griseolla and C. muscae carried out hydroxylation reactions, the third fungi performed reduction of the 17-carbonyl group in a chemoselective manner. Incubation of AD by A. griseolla yielded four metabolites 6β- (II), 7α- (III), 7β- (VI) and 14α-hydroxy-AD (V), among which 6β-hydroxy-AD (II) was identified as the major product. Furthermore, the metabolites produced during AD biotransformation by C. muscae were 6β- (II), 7β- (III) and 14α-hydroxy-AD (V). On the other hand, T. virens remarkably reduced AD into testosterone (VI) as the only product with 60% yield. These metabolites were purified by TLC and identified by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and other spectroscopic data.

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