Abstract
Light is an important signal for fungi. We analyzed the influence of blue light of various intensities and illumination times on growth, monascin (MS) and ankaflavin (AK) biosyntheses in Monascus strain M9. Blue light changed the color of colonies. The colonies grown in the dark were orange, but turned pale when exposed to continuous blue light. MS production increased by 12.5, 27, and 14.5 % under blue light of 100 lux for 15 min/day, 100 lux for 30 min/day, and 200 lux for 15 min/day, respectively, compared to growth in the dark. AK production increased by 14.4, 22, and 13 % under the same condition. MS and AK production decreased when exposed to blue light of 300 and 450 lux. The expression of pigment biosynthetic genes were analyzed by real-time quantitative PCR and correlated with phenotypic production of MS and AK.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akihisa T, Tokuda H, Ukiya M, Kiyota A, Yasukawa K, Sakamoto N, Kimura Y, Suzuki T, Takayasu J, Nishino H (2005) Anti-tumor-initiating effects of monascin, an azaphilonoid pigment from the extract of Monascus pilosus fermented rice (red-mold rice). Chem Biodivers 2:1305–1309
Babitha S, Carvahlo JC, Soccol CR, Pandey A (2008) Effect of light on growth, pigment production and culture morphology of Monascus purpureus in solid-state fermentation. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 24:2671–2675
Balakrishnan B, Karki S, Chiu SH, Kim HJ, Suh JW, Nam B, Yoon YM, Chen CC, Kwon HJ (2013) Genetic localization and in vivo characterization of a Monascus azaphilone pigment biosynthetic gene cluster. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97:6337–6345
Ballario P, Macino G (1997) White collar proteins: passing the light signal in Neurospora crassa. Trends Microbiol 5:458–462
Ballario P, Vittorioso P, Magrelli A, Talora C, Cabibbo A, Macino G (1996) White collar—1, a central regulator of blue light responses in Neurospora, is a zinc finger protein. EMBO J 15:1650–1657
Berrocal-Tito G, Sametz-Baron L, Eichenberg K, Horwitz BA, Herrera-Estrella A (1999) Rapid blue light regulation of a Trichoderma harzianum photolyase gene. J Biol Chem 274:14288–14294
Cheng CF, Pan TM (2011) Protective effect of Monascus-fermented red mold rice against alcoholic liver disease by attenuating oxidative stress and inflammatory response. J Agric Food Chem 59:9950–9957
Häggblom P, Unestam T (1979) Blue light inhibits mycotoxin production and increases total lipids and pigmentation in Alternaria alternata. Appl Environ Microbiol 38:1074–1077
Jou PC, Ho BY, Hsu YW, Pan TM (2010) The effect of Monascus secondary polyketide metabolites, monascin and ankaflavin, on adipogenesis and lipolysis activity in 3T3-L1. J Agric Food Chem 58:12703–12709
Jůzlová P, Martínková L, Křen V (1996) Secondary metabolites of the fungus Monascus: a review. J Ind Microbiol 16:163–170
Lee K, Singh P, Chung WC, Ash J, Kim TS, Hang L, Park S (2006) Light regulation of asexual development in the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. Fungal Genet Biol 43:694–706
Lee CL, Kung YH, Wu CL, Hsu YW, Pan TM (2010) Monascin and ankaflavin act as novel hypolipidemic and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol-raising agents in red mold dioscorea. J Agric Food Chem 58:9013–9019
Lee BH, Hsu WH, Liao TH, Pan TM (2011) The Monascus metabolite monascin against TNF-α-induced insulin resistance via suppressing PPAR-γ phosphorylation in C2C12 myotubes. Food Chem Toxicol 49:2609–2617
Linden H, Ballario P, Macino G (1997) Blue light regulation in Neurospora crassa. Fungal Genet Biol 22:141–150
Livak KJ, Schmittgen TD (2001) Analysis of relative gene expression data using real-time quantitative PCR and the 2−ΔΔCT method. Methods 25:402–408
Miyake T, Mori A, Kii T, Okuno T, Usui Y, Sato F, Sammoto H, Watanabe A, Kariyama M (2005) Light effects on cell development and secondary metabolism in Monascus. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 32:103–108
Schmidt-Heydt M, Rüfer C, Raupp F, Bruchmann A, Perrone G, Geisen R (2011) Influence of light on food relevant fungi with emphasis on ochratoxin producing species. Int J Food Microbiol 145:229–237
Velmurugan P, Lee YH, Venil CK, Lakshmanaperumalsamy P, Chae JC, Oh BT (2010) Effect of light on growth, intracellular and extracellular pigment production by five pigment-producing filamentous fungi in synthetic medium. J Biosci Bioeng 109:346–350
Wang CL, Yang H, Chen MH, Wang YR, Li FJ, Luo C, Zhao SY, He D (2012) Real-time quantitative analysis of the influence of blue light on citrinin biosynthetic gene cluster expression in Monascus. Biotechnol Lett 34:1745–1748
Acknowledgments
We are grateful for the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31330059).
Supporting information
Supplementary Table 1—Primers for RT-qPCR analyzing pigment biosynthetic genes.
Supplementary Figure 1—Mass spectra of monascin (a) and ankaflavin (b).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, C., Chen, D., Chen, M. et al. Stimulatory effects of blue light on the growth, monascin and ankaflavin production in Monascus . Biotechnol Lett 37, 1043–1048 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-014-1763-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-014-1763-3