Monacolins, as natural statins, form a class of fungal secondary metabolites and act as the specific inhibitors of HMG-CoA reductase. The interest in using the fermented products as the natural source of monacolins, instead of statin drugs, is increasing enormously with its increasing demand. In this study, the fermented products were produced by Monascus purpureus FTC5391 using submerged and s...

monascus purpureus is a fungus that had been cultured on the rice in eastern asian countries since thousands years ago and used as a food for long years. the fungus produces very valuable metabolites with polyketide structure. the most important metabolite is monacolin k, lovastatin or competitive inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme a reductase (an affective enzyme in cholesterol s...

The health-promoting potential of 70% ethanolic extracts of 4 rice varieties fermented with Monascus ruber, Phellinus linteus, Cordyceps sinensis and Agaricus blazei was evaluated mainly focusing on their antioxidative and antimutagenic capacities based on the following parameters: phenolic compound and phytic acid content; inhibitory activity on lipid peroxidation; scavenging activity on DPPH ...

More and more people pay attention to citrinin produced by Monascus, which has nephrotoxic activity in mammals. It was reported that pksCT gene is responsible for citrinin biosynthesis in Monascus purpureus. In this paper, two DNA fragments in both ends of pksCT were amplified by genomic PCR from fourteen Monascus spp. strains. The PCR products were gained from all of the strains. It is suggest...

The present study investigated the effects of agitation speed, N (200, 500, 600 or 700 rpm), and dissolved oxygen concentration, C (120, >70, 70, 60, 10 or 10%), on red pigment and citrinin production by Monascus purpureus ATCC 36928, cultivated in liquid medium by a batch process. The gas flow rate was the same for all runs with C controlled by means of the incoming gas composition control (ai...

Pigments extracted from natural products are widely used for food coloration in Japan. An investigation concerning the photo-mutagenicity and photo-carcinogenicity of frequently used colorants in Japan was performed. Colorants examined were from Laccifer lacca (lac-color), Coccus cacti (cochineal-color), Carthamus tinctorius (carthamus yellow), Gardenia augusta (gardenia yellow and gardenia blu...

Panda B.P., Javed S., Ali M. (2009): Engineering rice based medium for production of lovastatin with Monascus species. Czech J. Food Sci., 27: 352–360. Angkak (red mold rice, red yeast rice, Chinese red rice), a traditional Chinese functional food is produced by solid-state fermentation of cooked non-glutinous rice with Monascus species. The secondary metabolite of Monascus species, monacolin K...

We report the de novo assembled 20.05-Mb draft genome of the red yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides MTCC 457, predicted to encode 5,993 proteins, 4 rRNAs, and 125 tRNAs. Proteins known to be unique to oleaginous fungi are present among the predicted proteins. The genome sequence will be valuable for molecular genetic analysis and manipulation of lipid accumulation in this yeast and for developing ...

Rhodotorula glutinis ATCC 204091 is an oleaginous oxidative red yeast that can accumulate lipids to >50% of its biomass when grown with appropriate carbon and nitrogen ratios. It produces a red pigment consisting of useful antioxidants, such as carotenoids, torulene, and torularhodin, when cultivated under carbon-deficient conditions.