Production of ginsenoside compound K from American ginseng extract by fed-batch culture of Aspergillus tubingensis

Compound K (C-K), one of the most bioactive ginsenoside, is produced by hydrolyzing the glycoside moieties of protopanaxadiol (PPD)-type glycosylated ginsenosides in the ginseng extract. To enhance the biotransformation of PPD-type ginsenosides in American ginseng extract (AGE) into C-K, the optimization of the feed type, concentration, and period for the carbon source sucrose and the reactant AGE was performed in fed-batch fermentation of Aspergillus tubingensis using a fermenter . The concentration (3.94 g/L) and productivity (27.4 mg/L/h) of C-K after feed optimization in fed-batch fermentation increased 3.1-fold compared to those (1.29 g/L and 8.96 mg/L/h) in batch fermentation, and a molar conversion of 100% was achieved. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first trial of fed-batch fermentation to convert ginseng extract into deglycosylated ginsenoside and the highest reported C-K concentration and productivity using ginseng extract via fermentation. After ethanol and resin treatments, C-K solids with purities of 59% and 96% were obtained from the fermentation broth as food- and pharmaceutical-grade products, respectively. Graphical Abstract Key points This is the first fed-batch fermentation for biotransformation of ginseng extract The highest production of compound K via fermentation are achieved This is the first report on the purification of compound K from fermentation broth