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Monascus pigments

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Abstract

Monascus pigments (MPs) as natural food colorants have been widely utilized in food industries in the world, especially in China and Japan. Moreover, MPs possess a range of biological activities, such as anti-mutagenic and anticancer properties, antimicrobial activities, potential anti-obesity activities, and so on. So, in the past two decades, more and more attention has been paid to MPs. Up to now, more than 50 MPs have been identified and studied. However, there have been some reviews about red fermented rice and the secondary metabolites produced by Monascus, but no monograph or review of MPs has been published. This review covers the categories and structures, biosynthetic pathway, production, properties, detection methods, functions, and molecular biology of MPs.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the programs for New Century of Chinese Ministry of Education (NCET-05-0667), National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (2006AA10Z1A3) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 31171649 and 31271834).

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  1. National Key Laboratory of Agro-Microbiology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Fusheng Chen

  2. Key Laboratory of Environment Correlative Dietology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Fusheng Chen

  3. College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Yanli Feng, Yanchun Shao & Fusheng Chen

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  1. Yanli Feng
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  2. Yanchun Shao
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Correspondence to Fusheng Chen.

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Feng, Y., Shao, Y. & Chen, F. Monascus pigments. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 96, 1421–1440 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4504-3

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