Biotransformation of steroids by Exophiala jeanselmei var. lecanii corni

BIOT 240

Kayanne Patrice McCook, kayanne.mccook@uwimona.edu.jm, Department of Chemistry, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica and Paul B. Reese, pbreese@uwimona.edu.jm, Department of Chemistry, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica.
The steroids dehydroepiandrosterone, pregnenolone, testosterone, progesterone, prednisone, cortisone, estrone and sarsasapogenin were fed to growing cultures of Exophiala jeanselmei var. lecanii corni. With 3Β-hydroxy-Δ5-steroids, dehydroepiandrosterone and pregnenolone there was hydroxylation at C-7. Alternately, these compounds were oxidized to the 3-ketone; the 5,6-double bond isomerised into conjugation; the olefin was then reduced and the 3-ketone was converted to the 3Α-alcohol. For the Δ4-3 keto steroids testosterone and progesterone both the double bond and carbonyl were reduced to the 3Α-hydroxy analogue and position 5 was hydroxylated. Cortisone and prednisone underwent reduction of the C-20 ketone only to give the 17Α,20S,21 triol, while estrone was simply hydroxylated at C-15. Sarsasapogenin remained untransformed.
 

Poster Session
5:30 PM-7:30 PM, Wednesday, August 22, 2007 BCEC -- Exhibit Hall - B2, Poster

Division of Biochemical Technology

The 234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, August 19-23, 2007