''Monascus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal ...

. Among the known species of this genus, the red-pigmented ''

Monascus purpureus ''Monascus purpureus'' (syn. ''M. albidus'', ''M. anka'', ''M. araneosus'', ''M. major'', ''M. rubiginosus'', and ''M. vini''; zh, s= 红曲霉, t=紅麴黴, p=hóng qū méi, lit. "red yeast") is a species of mold that is purplish-red in colo ...

'' is among the most important because of its use in the production of certain fermented foods in

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

, particularly

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It has also been found associated with the nests of some bee species, particularly bumblebees and sweat bees though its function in these environments is unclear.

Species

* '' Monascus albidulus'' * '' Monascus argentinensis'' * '' Monascus aurantiacus'' * '' Monascus barkeri'' * '' Monascus eremophilus'' * '' Monascus flavipigmentosus'' * '' Monascus floridanus'' * '' Monascus fumeus'' * '' Monascus lunisporas'' * '' Monascus mellicola'' * '' Monascus mucoroides'' * '' Monascus olei'' * '' Monascus pallens'' * '' Monascus paxii'' * '' Monascus pilosus'' * ''

'' * '' Monascus recifensis'' * '' Monascus ruber'' * '' Monascus rutilus'' * '' Monascus sanguineus'' * '' Monascus vini''

Phylogeny

Phylogeny as given by Bisby et al., 2000, who put the genus into a separate family Monascaceae.

Monascus pigments and biosynthesis

'' derives its signature red color from mosascus pigment that is composed of azaphilones or secondary fungal metabolites. There are six primary compounds all with similar biosynthetic pathways, two yellow pigments, ankaflavin and monascin, two orange pigments monascorubin and rubropunctain, and two red pigments monascorubinamine and rubropunctaimine. All six are produced with a combination of

polyketide synthase Polyketide synthases (PKSs) are a family of multi- domain enzymes or enzyme complexes that produce polyketides, a large class of secondary metabolites, in bacteria, fungi, plants, and a few animal lineages. The biosyntheses of polyketides share ...

(PKS) and

fatty acid synthase Fatty acid synthase (FAS) is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''FASN'' gene. Fatty acid synthase is a multi-enzyme protein that catalyzes fatty acid synthesis. It is not a single enzyme but a whole enzymatic system composed of two ide ...

(FAS) In the first step a hexekatide is formed through Type 1 PKS encoded by the Mripig A gene. PKS uses the domains acyl transferase, acetyl-CoA, ketoacyl synthase, acyl transferase, acyl carrier protein and the base units of acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA to produce a ketone chain that undergoes Knoevenagel

aldol condensation An aldol condensation is a condensation reaction in organic chemistry in which two carbonyl moieties (of aldehydes or ketones) react to form a β-hydroxyaldehyde or β-hydroxyketone (an aldol reaction), and this is then followed by dehydration t ...

s. The second step is the formation of a fatty acid through the FAS pathway. The β-keto acid then undergoes a trans-esterification reaction to form one of the two orange pigments. At this point the compound can either undergo reduction to form one of the yellow pigments or amination to form one of the red pigments.

References

Aspergillaceae Eurotiomycetes genera Taxa described in 1884 {{Eurotiomycetes-stub