title: Deletion of pigR gene in Monascus ruber leads to loss of pigment production.
abstract: Pigments produced by Monascus are traditional food colorants and are widely used as dietary supplements. Since genes involving in pigment biosynthesis have not been reported, we describe the identification of a putative pigment-regulatory gene (pigR) obtained by molecular analysis of an albino strain of Monascus ruber M7. In the pigR-deleted strain (ΔpigR), neither the pigments nor pigR expression were detected by HPLC or reverse-transcription PCR, respectively, whereas the introduction of the pigR, together with a constitutive trpC promoter into ΔpigR, caused it to produce 5.4 U of red pigments/g dry mycelia, about 12-fold higher than Monascus ruber M7 (0.46 U/g dry mycelia). Thus pigR up-regulates pigment production in Monascus ruber M7.
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Nana
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Qingpei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Fusheng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005505:Food Coloring Agents / Q000378:metabolism; D017353:Gene Deletion; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D032741:Monascus / Q000235:genetics*; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D005505:Food Coloring Agents; D010860:Pigments, Biological; D014157:Transcription Factors