Production and chemical characterization of pigments in filamentous fungi.
Production of pigments by filamentous fungi is gaining interest owing to their use as food colourants, in cosmetics and textiles, and because of the important biological activities of these compounds. In this context, the objectives of this study were to select pigment-producing fungi, identify these fungi based on internal transcribed spacer sequences, evaluate the growth and pigment production of the selected strains on four different media, and characterize the major coloured metabolites in their extracts. Of the selected fungal strains, eight were identified as Aspergillus sydowii (CML2967), Aspergillus aureolatus (CML2964), Aspergillus keveii (CML2968), Penicillium flavigenum (CML2965), Penicillium chermesinum (CML2966), Epicoccum nigrum (CML2971), Lecanicillium aphanocladii (CML2970) and Fusarium sp. (CML2969). Fungal pigment production was influenced by medium composition. Complex media, such as potato dextrose and malt extract, favoured increased pigment production. The coloured compounds oosporein, orevactaene and dihydrotrichodimerol were identified in extracts of L. aphanocladii (CML2970), E. nigrum (CML2971), and P. flavigenum (CML2965), respectively. These results indicate that the selected fungal strains can serve as novel sources of pigments that have important industrial applications.
Department of Biology, Post-Graduate Program in Agriculture Microbiology, Federal University of Lavras, MG, Brazil.
Patrícia
P
Nirlane da Costa Souza
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Ribeirão Preto - USP, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
Tahuana
T
Luiza Bim Grigoletto
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Ribeirão Preto - USP, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
Luiz
L
Alberto Beraldo de Moraes
Department of Phytopathology, Federal University of Lavras, MG, Brazil.
Lucas M
LM
Abreu
Department of Biology, Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Ribeirão Preto - USP, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
Luís
L
Henrique Souza Guimarães
Department of Biology, Post-Graduate Program in Agriculture Microbiology, Federal University of Lavras, MG, Brazil.|Department of Chemical Sciences and Natural Resources, Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile.
Cledir
C
Santos
Department of Exact Sciences, Federal University of Lavras, MG, Brazil.
Luciano
L
Ribeiro Galvão
Department of Biology, Post-Graduate Program in Agriculture Microbiology, Federal University of Lavras, MG, Brazil.
Patrícia
P
Gomes Cardoso
D005658:Fungi / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010802:Phylogeny; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry
D010860:Pigments, Biological