Narrative: Cyclosporine is recognized as a wonder drug (an immunosuppressant) which has been used effectively to prevent foreign tissue rejection in conjunction with human organ transplants. In general, cyclosporine has been viewed as an important tool in the workings of the human immune response and possibly as a prototype of a new category of immuno pharmaceuticals. This investigation addresses the practical need for the economic production of this life-saving drug by increasing our understanding and control of the formation of cyclosporine via the fungus Tolypocladium inflatum fermentation. The knowledge generated from the proposed work will not be product-specific, but will seek to complement currently active studies in the broad areas of the process engineering and the physiology of secondary metabolite production, using this model as a realistic, commercially important system.
