Biological activity of polyketide pigments produced by the fungus Monascus

The biological activity of the pigment extracts from Monascus purpureus included their antibiotic action not only against bacteria but also against some species of yeasts and filamentous fungi, as well as embryotoxicity and teratogenicity. These activities depended on the presence of the orange component (monascorubrin and rubropunctatin). The formation of these compounds was influenced by the composition of the culture medium and by cultivation of the fungus: when amino acids, peptides or proteins were available during cultivation, as in the case of solid-state cultivation on rice, wheat or pearl barley or submerged cultivation with an organic nitrogen source, the bioactive compounds were converted into inactive complexes and, to a lesser extent, into purple pigments (monascorubramine and rubropunctamine) which retained some biological activity. The toxicity of the orange pigments may reside in the same reaction as their detoxication, i.e. in their binding to cellular NH-groups.