Monascus pigments production

The main concern regarding the utilization of Monascus pigments relates to the production of the citrinin mycotoxin in Monascus cultures. Several methods for controlling the mycotoxin production were proposed, including selection of non-toxinogenic strains, control of citrinin biosynthesis, and modifications of culture conditions. Despite their wide and traditional food applications in Asian countries, Monascus pigments have not been approved for use in the United States or European Union. 

Hajjaj, H. et ah. Production and identification of N-glucosylrubropunctamine and N-glucosyhnonascorubramine from Monascus ruber and occurrence of electron donor-acceptor complexes in these pigments, Appl Environ. Microbiol, 63, 2671, 1997. Jung, H. et ah. Color characteristics of Monascus pigments derived by fermentation with various amino acids, J. Agric. Food Chem., 51, 1302, 2003. 

Hamdi, M., Blanc, P.J., and Goma, G., A new process for red pigment production by Monascus purpureus culture on prickly pear juice and the effect of partial oxygen pressure. Bioprocess Eng., 17, 75, 1995. 

Carels, M. and Shepherd, D. 1977. The effect of different nitrogen sources on pigment production and sporulation of Monascus species in submerged, shaken culture. Can. J. Microbiol. 23(10), 1360-1372. 

Krairak, S., Yamamura, K., Irie, R., Nakajima, M., Shimizu, H., Chim-Anage, P., Yongsmith, B., and Shioya, S. 2000. Maximizing yellow pigment production in fed-batch culture oi Monascus sp. /. Biosci. Bioeng. 90(4), 363-367. 

Shin, C. S., Kim, H. J., Kim, M. J., and Ju, J. Y. 1998. Morphological change and enhanced pigment production of monascus when cocultured with Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Aspergillus oryzae. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 59(5), 576-581. 

Wong, H. C. 1982. Antibiotic and pigment production by Monascus purpureus. Ph. D. Thesis, University of Georgia. 

Yoshimura, M., Yamanada, S., Mitsugi, K., and Hirose, Y. 1975. Production of Monascus pigment in a submerged culture. Agric. Biol. Chem. 39,1789-1795. 

Hajjaj, H. et al.. Kinetic analysis of red pigment and citrinin production by Monascus ruber as a function of organic acid accumulation, Enz. Microb. Technol, 27, 619, 2000. 

Many secondary metabolites with complex chemical structures, including pigments (Figure 2) and monacolins (Figure 2), are synthesized from the polyketide pathway in Monascus spp. (Simpson, 1986). Several effectors controlling the polyketide synthesis of Monascus have been reported by using submerged culture systems (Lin, 1991). Considerable research has been conducted on the industrial production of Monascus in complex liquid media (Shepherd and Carels, 1983). 

Fenice, M., Federici, F., Selbmann, L., and PetruccioU, M. 2000. Repeated-batch production of pigments by immobilised Monascus purpureus. ]. Biotechnol. 80(3), 271-276. 

Hajjaj, H., Blanc, P. J., Groussac, E., Goma, G., Uribelarrea, J. L., and Loubiere, P. 1999a. Improvement of red pigment/citrinin production ratio as a fimction of environmental conditions by Monascus rubber. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 64(4), 497-501. 

Hsu, F. L., Wang, P. M., Lu, S. Y., and Wu, W. T. 2002. A combined solid-state and submerged cultivation integrated with adsorptive product extraction for production of Monascus red pigments. Bioprocess Biosyst. Eng. 25(3), 165-168. 

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