Accumulation of yellow Monascus pigments by extractive fermentation in nonionic surfactant micelle aqueous solution

Monascus species can produce various secondary metabolites of polyketide structure. In the current study, it is found that an interesting phenomenon, i.e., submerged culture of Monascus species in an aqueous solution majorly accumulated intracellular orange Monascus pigments exhibiting one peak at 470 nm with absorbance of 32 OD while extractive fermentation in a nonionic surfactant micelle aqueous solution produced extracellular and intracellular yellow Monascus pigments exhibiting one peak at 410 nm with absorbance 30 OD and 12 OD, respectively. The spectrum profiles of both intracellular and extracellular Monascus pigments were affected by surfactant loading, extractive fermentation time, and surfactant adding time. Meanwhile, the instability of orange Monascus pigments in the extracellular nonionic surfactant micelle aqueous solution was also confirmed experimentally. The mechanism behind this phenomenon is attributed to the export of intracellular yellow Monascus pigments into its broth by extractive fermentation. The transferring of intracellular yellow Monascus pigments into its broth blocks yellow Monascus pigments from further enzymatic conversion or eliminates the feedback inhibition of yellow Monascus pigments based on the biosynthetic pathway of Monascus pigments.