The effect of precursors on the anticancer alkaloid production by submerged fermentation using M. anisopliae 3935 was studied, according to complete experimental design 2² with three central points. The results showed that lysine was the most important variable, however, when both lysine and glucose were added to the fermentation medium, the alkaloid production reached, approximately, 17 mg L-1 after 120 hours of fermentation. Then, the scale-up of the process was carried out and these results were confirmed. Finally, 35 mg L-1 of alkaloid at 192 h were attained after increment of added aminoacid lysine.

The aim of this work was to evaluate the antioxidant properties of ginger and rosemary extracts, obtained by supercritical extraction. The extracts were characterized by HPLC, GC-MS, phenolic compounds content and antioxidant activity. The main active compounds were identified and high content of phenolic compounds was observed. The extracts presented high antioxidant activity against the free radicals ABTS•+ (350 and 200 mM Trolox/g, for ginger and rosemary, respectively) and DPPH•+ (145 and 80 mM Trolox/g, for ginger and rosemary, respectively). These results suggested that the attained extracts are potential substitutes of synthetic antioxidants used in chemical, food and pharmaceutical industries.

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar diferentes cepas dos fungos M. anisopliae e M. flavoviride ao respeito da sua capacidade de produzir um alcalóide anticancerígeno, por fermentação em frascos erlenmeyers usando três meios de cultura distintos. De seis cepas testadas, quatro foram capazes de produzir o composto de interesse, M. anisopliae 3935, PL57 e PL43 e M. flavoviride CG291, sendo que a maior concentração de alcalóide (aproximadamente, 6 mg.L-1) foi produzida pelo M. anisopliae 3935, contendo um meio constituído de extrato de farinha de aveia, glicose e DL-lisina a 26ºC e 200 rpm.

Six fungi strains (M. anisopliae 3935, 4516, 4819, PL57, PL43 and M. flavoviride CG291) were studied regarding their ability to produce an anticancer indolizidine alkaloid. The culture process was carried out in Shaken flask at 26ºC and 200 rpm using three different culture medium containing oat meal extract supplemented with glucose and DL-lysine or Czapek culture medium. The mycelial extracts produced by Metarhizium spp. cultures were directly submitted to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analysis and the highest alkaloid concentration (approximately, 6 mg.L-1) was reached when M. anisopliae 3935 was tested.