Cultivation System of a Novel Cordyceps militaris Strain ZA10-C4 and Efficient Preparation of Cordycepin

Abstract:

Cordyceps militaris strain ZA10-C4, a newly developed strain through hybrid breeding, exhibits high cordycepin production. In order to obtain a suitable medium formulation for its growth and further improve cordycepin yield, the fermentation medium need to be optimized and the response surface method was applied. Cordycepin was extracted and purified from the fermentation broth using the macroporous resin NKA-II. The optimal fermentation medium formulation was determined to contain maltose17.99 g/L, yeast extract powder 41.13 g/L, L-alanine 11.83 g/L, KH₂PO₄ 2.00 g/L, MgSO₄ 1.50 g/L, and vitamin B₁ 12 mg/L, respectively. Under these optimized conditions, the yield of cordycepin reached (4 503.14±15.54) mg/L, a 1.66-fold increase compared to before optimization levels. Meanwhile, the optimal extraction and purification process was identified as follows: natural pH, a sample loading volume of 600 mL, a sample loading and elution flow rate of 240 mL/h, and ethanol elution with 70% volume fraction at 800 mL. The resulting cordycepin achieved a purity of 94.89% with a yield of 89.57%. This study provides technical reference for the large-scale production of novel Cordyceps militaris strain ZA10-C4 and the efficient preparation of cordycepin.