title: Identification and role analysis of an intermediate produced by a polygenic mutant of Monascus pigments cluster in Monascus ruber M7.
abstract: Monascus pigments (Mps) are a group of azaphilonic secondary metabolites produced by Monascus spp. via a polyketide pathway. A mutant deleted an about 30 kb region of Mps gene cluster from Monascus ruber M7 was isolated previously, which produces a high amount of a light yellow pigment. The current study revealed that the mutant named ΔMpigJ-R lost proximate eight genes of the Mps gene cluster in M. ruber M7 through genetic analysis at DNA and RNA levels. The produced light yellow material was identified as a benzaldehyde derivative named as 6-(4-hydroxy-2-oxopentyl)-3-methyl-2, 4-dioxocyclohexane carb-aldehyde (M7PKS-1) by FT-IR, NMR, and MS. The sodium acetate-1-(13)C feeding experiment indicated that M7PKS-1 was a product produced from polyketide pathway. Finally, the feeding of M7PKS-1 helped to induce and regain Mps production of the mutants (ΔMpigA and ΔMpigE) which were previously unable to biosynthesize Mps and proved that M7PKS-1 was an initial intermediate of Mps. The results in this study provide a line of action to unveil Monascus pigments biosynthesis pathway.
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.
authors.forename: Jiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology for Agro-Products, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430070, China.
authors.forename: Youxiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology for Agro-Products, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430070, China.
authors.forename: Mingming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing, 400067, China.
authors.forename: Nana
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.
authors.forename: Qingpei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.
authors.forename: Yanchun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China. supervisor.chen@aliyun.com.|Key Laboratory of Environment Correlative Dietology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430070, China. supervisor.chen@aliyun.com.
authors.forename: Fusheng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001547:Benzaldehydes / Q000737:chemistry; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D032741:Monascus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D001547:Benzaldehydes; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D010860:Pigments, Biological; C032175:benzaldehyde
keywords: Biosynthesis pathway; Monascus pigment; Monascus ruber; Pigment intermediate