Title: Analysis of Pigment Compositions in Various Monascus Cultures
Abstract:The pigments produced by Monascus are a mixture that includes azaphilone pigments. We simultaneously analyzed the 11 identified compounds present in Monascus pigments, and showed that there was a larg...The pigments produced by Monascus are a mixture that includes azaphilone pigments. We simultaneously analyzed the 11 identified compounds present in Monascus pigments, and showed that there was a large variety of components produced by different strains and under different culture conditions. For example, pigments of Monascus pilosus NBRC4520 grown in potato dextrose broth were mainly composed of xanthomonascin A and monascorubrin. Ethanol extracts from cultured cells tended to contain more monascin and ankaflavin, and the nitrogen source also influenced the composition of pigment components produced. Moreover MK-1, a mutant of M. pilosus NBRC4520 that produces high levels of lovastatin and pigments (Miyake et al., 2006ab), was found to produce large amounts of rubropunctamine, monascorubramine, monascin and yellow II.Read More