Rising temperature stimulates the biosynthesis of water-soluble fluorescent yellow pigments and gene expression in Monascus ruber CGMCC10910

Abstract

Monascus species can produce secondary metabolites that have a polyketide structure. In this study, four types of extracellular water-soluble yellow pigments (Y1–Y4) were generated by submerged fermentation with Monascus ruber CGMCC 10910, of which Y3 and Y4 had strong yellow fluorescence. The composition of the pigment mixtures was closely related to the fermentation temperature. The dominating pigments changed from Y1 to Y3 and Y4 when fermentation temperature increased from 30 to 35 °C. Increasing the temperature to 35 °C changed the metabolic pathways of the pigments, which inhibited the biosynthesis of Y1 and enhanced the biosynthesis of Y3 and Y4. Moreover, the yield of Y1 reduced insignificantly, while the yields of Y3 and Y4 increased by 98.21 and 79.31% respectively under two-stage temperature fermentation condition. The expression levels of the relative pigment biosynthetic genes, such as MpFasA2, MpFasB2, MpPKS5, mppR1, mppB, and mppE, were up-regulated at 35 °C. The two-stage temperature strategy is a potential method for producing water-soluble Monascus yellow pigments with strong yellow fluorescence.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13568-017-0441-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Evaluating Antitumor and Antioxidant Activities of Yellow Monascus Pigments from Monascus ruber Fermentation

“…The results suggested the existence of antiproliferative activity of the water-soluble NYMPs. As Huang et al [22] reported, the Y3 and Y4 components had strong yellow fluorescence in the NYMPs. We speculated that Y3 and Y4 might be the active ingredients in the NYMPs.…”

“…The main extracellular pigments were mixtures of four components, including Y1, Y2, Y3, and Y4, with molecular weights of 250, 254, 402, and 358 Da., respectively. Huang et al [22] reported that the chemical characteristics of Y1, Y2, Y3, and Y4, in which Y3 and Y4 had strong yellow fluorescence at UV of 365 nm and Y1 was the Azanigerone E (C 13 H 14 O 5 ), a known natural pigment.…”

“…For fermentation, 2 mL seed culture was transferred to a 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask containing 25 mL fermentation culture medium and incubated at 30 °C for 9 days on a shaker in 180 rpm. The preparation of seed and fermentation culture media is referred to in our previous work [22].…”

Fungal Pigments and Their Prospects in Different Industries

“…Studies have also been reported showing the influence of temperature on the biosynthesis of pigments by certain fungal isolates such as M. ruber, T. purpureogenus (formerly known as P. purpurogenum), C. aeruginascens, etc. [150,152,153]. Enhancement of yellow pigment production in a Monascus anka mutant strain under submerged fermentation using a two-stage agitation speed control strategy (400 rpm followed by 300 rpm) has been successfuly reported [154].…”

iTRAQ-Based Quantitative Proteomic Analysis Reveals Changes in Metabolite Biosynthesis in Monascus purpureus in Response to a Low-Frequency Magnetic Field

“…Genetic engineering technology has been used to build mutant strains. This technology has been developed to regulate pigment [ 13 , 14 ], monacolin K [ 15 , 16 , 17 ], and citrinin content [ 18 , 19 , 20 ], as well as biosynthetic pathways. However, results for Monascus as a special species remain very limited, and there is still much room to further develop this organism.…”