Orange, red, yellow: Biosynthesis of azaphilone pigments in Monascus fungi

Wanping Chen; Runfa Chen; Qingpei Liu; Yi He; Kun He; Xiaoli Ding; Lijing Kang; Xiaoxiao Guo; Nana Xie; Youxiang Zhou; Yuanyuan Lu; Russell J. Cox; István Molnár; Mu Li; Yanchun Shao; Fusheng Chen

doi:10.1039/c7sc00475c

Orange, red, yellow: Biosynthesis of azaphilone pigments in Monascus fungi

Wanping Chen, Runfa Chen, Qingpei Liu, Yi He, Kun He, Xiaoli Ding, Lijing Kang, Xiaoxiao Guo, Nana Xie, Youxiang Zhou, Yuanyuan Lu, Russell J. Cox, István Molnár, Mu Li, Yanchun Shao, Fusheng Chen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

233 Scopus citations

Abstract

Monascus azaphilone pigments (MonAzPs) are very widely used as food colorants, but their biosynthetic pathway has remained poorly characterized for more than half a century. In this study, the individual steps of MonAzPs biosynthesis in Monascus ruber M7 were elucidated by a combination of targeted gene knockouts, heterologous gene expression, and in vitro chemical and enzymatic reactions. This study describes the first rational engineering of MonAzPs biosynthesis and provides a roadmap for future pathway engineering efforts directed towards the selective production of the most valuable pigments and serves as a model for the biosynthesis of fungal azaphilones in general.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	4917-4925
Number of pages	9
Journal	Chemical Science
Volume	8
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/c7sc00475c
State	Published - 2017

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry

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title = "Orange, red, yellow: Biosynthesis of azaphilone pigments in Monascus fungi",

abstract = "Monascus azaphilone pigments (MonAzPs) are very widely used as food colorants, but their biosynthetic pathway has remained poorly characterized for more than half a century. In this study, the individual steps of MonAzPs biosynthesis in Monascus ruber M7 were elucidated by a combination of targeted gene knockouts, heterologous gene expression, and in vitro chemical and enzymatic reactions. This study describes the first rational engineering of MonAzPs biosynthesis and provides a roadmap for future pathway engineering efforts directed towards the selective production of the most valuable pigments and serves as a model for the biosynthesis of fungal azaphilones in general.",

author = "Wanping Chen and Runfa Chen and Qingpei Liu and Yi He and Kun He and Xiaoli Ding and Lijing Kang and Xiaoxiao Guo and Nana Xie and Youxiang Zhou and Yuanyuan Lu and Cox, {Russell J.} and Istv{\'a}n Moln{\'a}r and Mu Li and Yanchun Shao and Fusheng Chen",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 The Royal Society of Chemistry.",

year = "2017",

doi = "10.1039/c7sc00475c",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "8",

pages = "4917--4925",

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publisher = "Royal Society of Chemistry",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Orange, red, yellow

T2 - Biosynthesis of azaphilone pigments in Monascus fungi

AU - Chen, Wanping

AU - Chen, Runfa

AU - Liu, Qingpei

AU - He, Yi

AU - He, Kun

AU - Ding, Xiaoli

AU - Kang, Lijing

AU - Guo, Xiaoxiao

AU - Xie, Nana

AU - Zhou, Youxiang

AU - Lu, Yuanyuan

AU - Cox, Russell J.

AU - Molnár, István

AU - Li, Mu

AU - Shao, Yanchun

AU - Chen, Fusheng

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - Monascus azaphilone pigments (MonAzPs) are very widely used as food colorants, but their biosynthetic pathway has remained poorly characterized for more than half a century. In this study, the individual steps of MonAzPs biosynthesis in Monascus ruber M7 were elucidated by a combination of targeted gene knockouts, heterologous gene expression, and in vitro chemical and enzymatic reactions. This study describes the first rational engineering of MonAzPs biosynthesis and provides a roadmap for future pathway engineering efforts directed towards the selective production of the most valuable pigments and serves as a model for the biosynthesis of fungal azaphilones in general.

AB - Monascus azaphilone pigments (MonAzPs) are very widely used as food colorants, but their biosynthetic pathway has remained poorly characterized for more than half a century. In this study, the individual steps of MonAzPs biosynthesis in Monascus ruber M7 were elucidated by a combination of targeted gene knockouts, heterologous gene expression, and in vitro chemical and enzymatic reactions. This study describes the first rational engineering of MonAzPs biosynthesis and provides a roadmap for future pathway engineering efforts directed towards the selective production of the most valuable pigments and serves as a model for the biosynthesis of fungal azaphilones in general.

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DO - 10.1039/c7sc00475c

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EP - 4925

JO - Chemical Science

JF - Chemical Science

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ER -

Orange, red, yellow: Biosynthesis of azaphilone pigments in Monascus fungi

Abstract

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