• Mycobiology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.269-277
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• 2018

The production of water-soluble pigments by fungal strains indigenous to South Korea was investigated to find those that are highly productive in submerged culture. Among 113 candidates, 34 strains that colored the inoculated potato dextrose agar medium were selected. They were cultured in potato dextrose broth and extracted with ethanol. The productivity, functionality (radical-scavenging activities), and color information (CIELAB values) of the pigment extracts were measured. Five species produced intense yellowish pigments, and two produced intense reddish pigments that ranked the highest in terms of absorbance units produced per day. The pigment extracts of Penicillium miczynskii, Sanghuangporus baumii, Trichoderma sp. 1, and Trichoderma afroharzianum exhibited high radical-scavenging activity. However, the S. baumii extract showed moderate toxicity in the acute toxicity test, which limits the industrial application of this pigment. In conclusion, P. miczynskii KUC1721, Trichoderma sp. 1 KUC1716, and T. afroharzianum KUC21213 were the best fungal candidates to be industrial producers of safe, functional water-soluble pigments.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.107-109
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• 2008

Medicinal fungi, Phellinus linteus and Inonotus xeranticus, produce a cluster of yellow pigment in their fermentation broth that acts as an important element of biological activity. The pigment is composed of diverse polyphenols with a styrylpyrone moiety, mainly hispidin and its dimers, 3,14'-bihispidinyl, hypholomine B, and 1,1-distyrylpyrylethan. Although dimeric hispidins were proposed to be biosynthesized from two molecules of monomer via oxidative coupling by ligninolytic enzymes, laccase and peroxidase, the details of this process remain unknown. In this preliminary study, we attempted to achieve enzymatic synthesis of the hispidin dimer from hispidin by using commercially available horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Consequently, a hispidin dimer, 3,14'-bihispidinyl, was synthesized, whereas the other dimers, hypholomine B and 1,1-distyrylpyrylethan, were not produced. This result suggested that the oxidative coupling at the C-3 and C-14' positions of hispidins was dominant in the process of dimerization by HRP, and indicated that additional catalysts or substrates would be needed to synthesize other hispidin dimers present in the fungal metabolite.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1648-1652
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• 2015

Azaphilone polyketides are synthesized by iterative non-reducing fungal polyketide synthases (NR-fPKSs) with a C-terminus reductive domain (-R). Several azaphilone biosynthetic gene clusters contain a putative serine hydrolase gene; the Monascus azaphilone pigment (MAzP) gene cluster harbors mppD. The MAzP productivity was significantly reduced by a knockout of mppD, and the MAzP NR-fPKS-R gene (MpPKS5) generated its product in yeast only when co-expressed with mppD. Site-directed mutations of mppD for conserved Ser/Asp/His residues abolished the product formation from the MpPKS5/mppD co-expression. MppD and its homologs are thus proposed as a new protein factor involved in the product formation of NR-fPKS-R.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.321-324
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• 2000

The Effect of pH red pigment production by Monascus purpureus ATCC 16365 has been studied in pH-controlled batch fermenter culture. A maximum of yellow and red pigments were detected using UV-Vis spectrophotometer at 385nm and 495nm, respectively. Fungal growth and pigment production were favoured at low pH(pH 4.0-5.5). Especially extracellular formation rate of orange to yellow pigment was decreased compared with that of orange to red pigment at pH 7.0. In addition, the enhancement of ratio of extracellular to intracellular pigment and the red pigment production in pH 7.0-controlled batch fermenter was observed. However, the pH 7.0-controlled batch cultures depressed the total production of pigments. The pH change from 4.0 to 7.0 during batch fermenter cultivations sharply increased both red pigment production and the extracellular composition.

• Mycobiology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.429-439
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• 2018

To develop a convenient promoter analysis system for fungi, a null-pigment mutant (NPG) of Aspergillus nidulans was used with the 4'-phosphopantetheinyl transferase (PPTase) gene, npgA, which restores the normal pigmentation in A. nidulans, as a new reporter gene. The functional organization of serially deleted promoter regions of the A. nidulans trpC gene and the Cryphonectria parasitica crp gene in filamentous fungi was representatively investigated to establish a novel fungal promoter assay system that depends on color complementation of the NPG mutant with the PPTase npgA gene. Several promoter regions of the trpC and crp genes were fused to the npgA gene containing the 1,034-bp open reading frame and the 966-bp 3' downstream region from the TAA, and the constructed fusions were introduced into the NPG mutant in A. nidulans to evaluate color recovery due to the transcriptional activity of the sequence elements. Serial deletion of the trpC and crp promoter regions in this PPTase reporter assay system reaffirmed results in previous reports by using the fungal transformation step without a laborious verification process. This approach suggests a more rapid and convenient system than conventional analyses for fungal gene expression studies.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.181-190
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• 1990

The growth and biochemical activities of Chlorella fusca were studied in the presence of different concentrations of either filtrates or mycelial mats of Saprolegnia ferax and Pythium graminicola. Low concentrations of both fungal filtrates exerted increase in total count, dry weight and in the biosynthesis of photosynthetic pigments, carbohydrates and nitrogen content. High concentrations showed inhibitory effect on both growth and biochemical activities of Chlorella fusca. Supplementation with different concentrations of dry mycelial mats of either fungi the culture of Chlorella showed elevation in biomass, dry weight, and biosynthesis of carbohydrates and nitrogen content especially at low concentrations. The contents of photosynthetic pigment were inhibited only at low concentrations. Neither the culture filtrate of Pythium nor Saprolegnia had cellulolytic activity, although polygalacturonase enzymes were detected, whereas chloroform-extract of both fungal filtrates showed blue spots under long wave light (366 nm).

• Mycobiology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.233-239
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• 2002

The main aim of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of two biologically active compounds(Strom and F-760) in control of wheat root rot disease and its causal organisms. Fusarium graminearum, F. oxysporum, F. solani and Bipolaris sorokiniana were used as target organisms. In vitro, the two compounds showed fungicidal effect on all investigated pathogens resulted in suppression of radial growth and mycelial dry weight of them. Under greenhouse conditions, treatment of wheat grains with either Strom or F-760 before cultivation significantly reduced the percent of disease distribution as well as the mean disease rating of plants in both seedling and flowering stages. Fresh and dry weights of plants as well as water maintenance capacity were increased as the result of applying these compounds as seed dressing. Also data showed that the membrane stability of plants was injured as a result of infection with all investigated organisms, while this injury was alleviated when F-760 and Strom were applied. The $K^+$ efflux and the leakage of UV absorbing metabolites was stimulated with fungal infection. However, F-760 and Storm treatment partially retarded the stimulatory effect on leakage of $K^+$ and UV-absorbing metabolites of fungal infected plants. On the other side, the fungal infection had inhibitory effects on pigment fractions(chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids) biosynthesis in wheat leaves. This retarding effect was partially or completely alleviated as the grains were treated with the applied compounds.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.1105-1110
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• 2015

Phleichrome, a pigment produced by the phytopathogenic fungus Cladosporium phlei, is a fungal perylenequinone whose photodynamic activity has been studied intensively. To determine the biological function of phleichrome and to engineer a strain with enhanced production of phleichrome, we identified the gene responsible for the synthesis of phleichrome. Structural comparison of phleichrome with other fungal perylenequinones suggested that phleichrome is synthesized via polyketide pathway. We recently identified four different polyketide synthase (PKS) genes encompassing three major clades of fungal PKSs that differ with respect to reducing conditions for the polyketide product. Based on in silico analysis of cloned genes, we hypothesized that the non-reducing PKS gene, Cppks1, is involved in phleichrome biosynthesis. Increased accumulation of Cppks1 transcript was observed in response to supplementation with the application of synthetic inducer cyclo-(${_L}-Pro-{_L}-Phe$). In addition, heterologous expression of the Cppks1 gene in Cryphonectria parasitica resulted in the production of phleichrome. These results provide convincing evidence that the Cppks1 gene is responsible for the biosynthesis of phleichrome.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.1204-1211
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• 2019

Fungal exopolysaccharides are important natural products having diverse biological functions. In this study, exopolysaccharides from Fomitopsis castanea mycelia (FEPS) were prepared, and the highest mushroom tyrosinase inhibitory activity was found. FEPS were prepared from cultivation broth by ethanol precipitation method. The extraction yield and protein concentration of FEPS were 213.1 mg/l and 0.03%, respectively. FEPS inhibited mushroom tyrosinase with the half maximal inhibitory concentration ($IC_{50}$) of 16.5 mg/ml and dose-dependently inhibited cellular tyrosinase activity (63.9% at $50{\mu}g/ml$, and 83.3% at $100{\mu}g/ml$) in the cell-free extract of SK-MEL-5 human melanoma cell and ${\alpha}$-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (${\alpha}-MSH$)-stimulated melanin formation in intact SK-MEL-5 human melanoma cell. The $IC_{50}$ of FEPS against NO production from RAW264.7 macrophage cells was $42.8{\pm}0.64{\mu}g/ml$. By in vivo study using a zebrafish model, exposure of FEPS at $400{\mu}g/ml$ to dechorionated zebrafish embryos for 18 h decreased the pigment density, compared to that without FEPS-treated control.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.100-106
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• 2016

We have studied the mycelia growth of four soil-borne fungal pathogens under light qualities and two lighting types (continuous and intermittent) provided by light-emitting diodes (LEDs). As a result, each mycelia growth on Phytophthora cactorum KACC40166, Athelia rolfsii KACC40170, and Helicobasidium mompa KACC40836 strain showed the similar growth rates within 10% or less difference among treatments compared to dark control, regardless of lighting types. However, the mycelia growth on Rosellinia necatrix KACC40168 strain was significantly suppressed by blue, blue+green and blue+red LED as well as fluorescent lamp compared to a dark control, in common with lighting types. The melanin pigment on R. necatrix KACC40168 strain showed relatively to induce more strongly under green LED and fluorescent lamp, whereas no induction under red LED and a control, regardless of lighting types. Thus, the hypha width on R. necatrix KACC40168 was significantly thinned by blue and blue+green LED compared to a control, in common with lighting types.