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Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine Oct 2017Robusta beans cultivated with (RMR) were successively fermented with (LM) and the antiobesity effects were examined. To produce an obese mouse model to investigate the...
Robusta beans cultivated with (RMR) were successively fermented with (LM) and the antiobesity effects were examined. To produce an obese mouse model to investigate the hypolipidemic effects, ICR mice were fed the same high-fat diet for 6 weeks. Treatment groups were given 10 or 20% RMR-LM. Body weight changes in the 20% RMR-LM group were lower compared with those in the control group. Visceral adipose tissue weight and adipose size were significantly lower in the 20% RMR-LM group compared with those in the control group. Significant improvement in glucose tolerance was observed in the 10 and 20% RMR-LM groups compared with the control group. The 20% RMR-LM group exhibited a significant reduction in serum glucose concentration. Hepatic mRNA levels of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1, fas cell surface death receptor, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, which are associated with lipid, and fatty acid metabolism, in the 20% RMR-LM group were significantly lower compared with those in the control group. The results of the present study demonstrated that 20% RMR-LM may be used to prevent obesity, and ameliorate diabetes and lipid metabolism imbalances.
PubMed: 29042976
DOI: 10.3892/etm.2017.4990 -
Chemical Science Jul 2017azaphilone pigments (MonAzPs) are very widely used as food colorants, but their biosynthetic pathway has remained poorly characterized for more than half a century. In...
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 M7 were elucidated by a combination of targeted gene knockouts, heterologous gene expression, and 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.
PubMed: 28959415
DOI: 10.1039/c7sc00475c -
Applied and Environmental Microbiology Jan 2005The effect of temperature, pH, and sodium chloride concentration on the growth of the Ascomycetes fungus Monascus ruber van Tieghem, the main spoilage microorganism...
Use of gradient plates to study combined effects of temperature, pH, and NaCl concentration on growth of Monascus ruber van Tieghem, an Ascomycetes fungus isolated from green table olives.
The effect of temperature, pH, and sodium chloride concentration on the growth of the Ascomycetes fungus Monascus ruber van Tieghem, the main spoilage microorganism during storage of table olives, was studied by using the gradient plate technique. Gradients of NaCl (3 to 9%, wt/vol) at right angles to gradients of pH (2 to 6.8) were prepared for the plates, which were incubated at 25, 30, and 35 degrees C. Visible fungal growth, expressed in optical density units, was recorded by image analysis and graphically presented in the form of three-dimensional grids. Results obtained from the plates indicated that the fungus was salt and acid tolerant, being able to grow at NaCl concentrations of up to 9% (wt/vol) and pH values of as low as 2.2, depending on the incubation temperature. The inhibitory effect of NaCl increased as the pH decreased progressively at 25 and 30 degrees C but not at 35 degrees C. Growth was better at 30 and 25 degrees C as judged by the larger extent of the plates covered by mycelium compared with that at 35 degrees C, where no growth was observed at pHs below 3.7. Differentiation between vegetative (imperfect-stage) and reproductive (perfect-stage) growth was evident on all plates, providing useful information about the effect of environmental conditions on the form of fungal growth. When the growth/no-growth surface model was obtained by applying linear logistic regression, it was found that all factors (pH, NaCl, and temperature) and their interactions were significant. Plots of growth/no-growth interfaces for P values of 0.1, 0.5, and 0.9 described the results satisfactorily at 25 and 35 degrees C, whereas at 35 degrees C the model predicted lower minimum pH values for growth in the range of 7 to 10% NaCl than those observed on the plates. Overall, it is suggested that the fungus cannot be inhibited by any combination of pH and NaCl within the limits of the brine environment, so further processing is required to ensure product stability in the market.
Topics: Culture Media; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Microbiological Techniques; Monascus; Olea; Sodium Chloride; Temperature
PubMed: 15640213
DOI: 10.1128/AEM.71.1.392-399.2005 -
Chemical Biology & Drug Design Jan 2021A high-throughput screening assay was developed and applied to a large library of natural product extract samples, in order to identify compounds which preferentially...
A high-throughput screening assay was developed and applied to a large library of natural product extract samples, in order to identify compounds which preferentially inhibited the in vitro 2D growth of a highly metastatic osteosarcoma cell line (MG63.3) compared to a cognate parental cell line (MG63) with low metastatic potential. Evaluation of differentially active natural product extracts with bioassay-guided fractionation led to the identification of lovastatin (IC = 11 µm) and the limonoid toosendanin (IC = 26 nm). Other statins and limonoids were then tested, and cerivastatin was identified as a particularly potent (IC < 0.1 µm) and selective agent. These compounds potently and selectively induced apoptosis in MG63.3 cells, but not MG63. Assays with other cell pairs were used to examine the generality of these results. Statins and limonoids may represent unexplored opportunities for development of modulators of osteosarcoma metastasis. As cerivastatin was previously approved for clinical use, it could be considered for repurposing in osteosarcoma, pending validation in further models.
Topics: Biological Products; Bone Neoplasms; Cell Line; Cell Movement; Cell Proliferation; Cell Survival; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; High-Throughput Screening Assays; Humans; Lovastatin; Melia; Monascus; Osteosarcoma; Plant Extracts; Pyridines; Seeds
PubMed: 32666679
DOI: 10.1111/cbdd.13762 -
The Journal of Antibiotics Mar 1985
Topics: Animals; Anticholesteremic Agents; Ascomycota; Cholesterol; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Mass Spectrometry; Naphthalenes; Rats
PubMed: 3839227
DOI: 10.7164/antibiotics.38.420 -
Microbial Cell Factories Nov 2017Monascus pigments are widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries due to their safety to human health. Our previous study found that glucose concentration...
BACKGROUND
Monascus pigments are widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries due to their safety to human health. Our previous study found that glucose concentration induced extracellular oxidoreduction potential (ORP) changes could influence extracellular water-soluble yellow pigment production by Monascus ruber CGMCC 10910 in submerged fermentation. In this study, HO and dithiothreitol (DTT) were used to change the oxidoreduction potential for investigating the effects of oxidative or reductive substances on Monascus yellow pigment production by Monascus ruber CGMCC 10910.
RESULTS
The extracellular ORP could be controlled by HO and DTT. Both cell growth and extracellular water-soluble yellow pigment production were enhanced under HO-induced oxidative (HIO) conditions and were inhibited under dithiothreitol-induced reductive conditions. By optimizing the amount of HO added and the timing of the addition, the yield of extracellular water-soluble yellow pigments significantly increased and reached a maximum of 209 AU, when 10 mM HO was added on the 3rd day of fermentation with M. ruber CGMCC 10910. Under HIO conditions, the ratio of NADH/NAD+ was much lower than that in the control group, and the expression levels of relative pigment biosynthesis genes were up-regulated; moreover, the activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) was increased while 6-phosphofructokinase (PFK) activity was inhibited.
CONCLUSIONS
Oxidative conditions induced by HO increased water-soluble yellow pigment accumulation via up-regulation of the expression levels of relative genes and by increasing the precursors of pigment biosynthesis through redirection of metabolic flux. In contrast, reductive conditions induced by dithiothreitol inhibited yellow pigment accumulation. This experiment provides a potential strategy for improving the production of Monascus yellow pigments.
Topics: Color; Humans; Monascus; Oxidation-Reduction; Water
PubMed: 29162105
DOI: 10.1186/s12934-017-0828-0 -
Journal of Cancer 2016Despite the tremendous improvement in cancer therapeutics, treatment of late-stage breast cancer remains a challenge for both basic scientists and clinicians....
Despite the tremendous improvement in cancer therapeutics, treatment of late-stage breast cancer remains a challenge for both basic scientists and clinicians. Lovastatin, a natural product derived from Aspergillus terreus or Monascus ruber, has been widely used as cholesterol-lowing drug in the clinic. It also has anti-cancer properties through poorly defined molecular mechanisms. In the present study, we employed a novel antibody microarray technology to investigate the molecular mechanisms through which lovastatin inhibits breast cancer. We found that lovastatin up-regulated 17 proteins and down-regulated 20 proteins in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. These included proteins that modulate apoptosis, cell proliferation, differentiation, signal transduction, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and tumor metastasis. Modulation of these pathways may mediate, in part, the inhibitory activity of lovastatin on breast cancer.
PubMed: 26819643
DOI: 10.7150/jca.13414 -
The Journal of Antibiotics Dec 19903 alpha-Hydroxy-3,5-dihydromonacolin L acid (acid form), a new compound related to monacolin K (mevinolin), was isolated from the culture broth of a strain of Monascus...
3 alpha-Hydroxy-3,5-dihydromonacolin L acid (acid form), a new compound related to monacolin K (mevinolin), was isolated from the culture broth of a strain of Monascus ruber. The structure of the compound was determined by a combination of physical techniques. 4a,5-Dihydromonacolin L was converted to 3 alpha-hydroxy-3,5-dihydromonacolin L by a cell-free extract of M. ruber in the presence of molecular oxygen. The results demonstrate that the former is the direct precursor in the biosynthesis of the latter.
Topics: Ascomycota; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Fermentation; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Mass Spectrometry; Molecular Conformation; Molecular Structure; Naphthalenes; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
PubMed: 2276977
DOI: 10.7164/antibiotics.43.1597 -
Frontiers in Microbiology 2021type azaphilone pigments (MonAzPs) are produced in multi-thousand ton quantities each year and used as food colorants and nutraceuticals in East Asia. Several groups,...
type azaphilone pigments (MonAzPs) are produced in multi-thousand ton quantities each year and used as food colorants and nutraceuticals in East Asia. Several groups, including ours, described MonAzPs biosynthesis as a highly complex pathway with many branch points, affording more than 110 MonAzP congeners in a small group of fungi in the Eurotiales order. MonAzPs biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) are also very complex and mosaic-like, with some genes involved in more than one pathway, while other genes playing no apparent role in MonAzPs production. Due to this complexity, MonAzPs BGCs have been delimited differently in various fungi. Since most of these predictions rely primarily on bioinformatic analyses, it is possible that genes immediately outside the currently predicted BGC borders are also involved, especially those whose function cannot be predicted from sequence similarities alone. Conversely, some peripheral genes presumed to be part of the BGC may in fact lay outside the boundaries. This study uses a combination of computational and transcriptional analyses to predict the extent of the MonAzPs BGC in M7. Gene knockouts and analysis of MonAzPs production of the mutants are then used to validate the prediction, revealing that the BGC consists of 16 genes, extending from to . We further predict that two strains of , ATCC 18224 and PM1, encode an orthologous but non-syntenic MonAzPs BGC with 14 genes. This work highlights the need to use comprehensive, integrated approaches for the more precise determination of secondary metabolite BGC boundaries.
PubMed: 34220766
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.680629 -
Brazilian Journal of Microbiology :... 2018An ascomycetes fungus was isolated from brine storage of green olives of the Arauco cultivar imported from Argentina and identified as Monascus ruber. The combined...
An ascomycetes fungus was isolated from brine storage of green olives of the Arauco cultivar imported from Argentina and identified as Monascus ruber. The combined effects of different concentrations of sodium chloride (3.5-5.5%), sodium benzoate (0-0.1%), potassium sorbate (0-0.05%) and temperature (30-40°C) were investigated on the growth of M. ruber in the brine of stored table olives using a response surface methodology. A full 2 factorial design with three central points was first used in order to screen for the important factors (significant and marginally significant factors) and then a Face-Centered Central Composite Design was applied. Both preservatives prevented fungal spoilage, but potassium sorbate was the most efficient to control the fungi growth. The combined use of these preservatives did not show a synergistic effect. The results showed that the use of these salts may not be sufficient to prevent fungal spoilage and the greatest fungal growth was recorded at 30°C.
Topics: Food Preservation; Food Preservatives; Food Storage; Fruit; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Monascus; Olea; Sodium Benzoate; Sodium Chloride
PubMed: 29100931
DOI: 10.1016/j.bjm.2017.05.009