J. Nithya Kamalam, J. Anburaj, T. Kuberan, C. Sundaravadivelan, P. Kumar, T. Starlin, A. Tamil Selvi and M. Vimala Devi
The aim of the present work was to investigate the feasibility of jackfruit seed powder as a substrate for the production of pigments by Monascus ruber in solid-state fermentation (SSF). Pigment production by the fungus Monascus sp. was studied to determine the more pigment in solid culture than in submerged culture. The fungi actively grown in Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) medium. A pigment yield of 2.85 OD Units/g dry fermented substrate was achieved by employing jackfruit seed powder. Pigment production was carried out 50% initial moisture content, incubation temperature 30 °C, 1 × 106 spores/g dry substrate inoculum and an incubation period of Fourteen days. The pigments were extracted with water and ethanol. The absorbance of these pigments was analyzed in the UVvisible spectrophotometer. The absorbance of these ethanol extract was found to be higher (2.85 OD Units/g). The ethanol extract of each substrate was subjected to TLC and it was determined that extract contains both yellow and red pigments. The genomic DNA was isolated and it was electrophoresed in agarose gel and then it was eluted from the gel for further study. Then the PCR products was electrophoresed along with the DNA marker and it was viewed in the under Gel documentation system. From this we can concluded that this Monascus ruber pigments can be used as a natural colorant in the food industry replacing the synthetic ones. Furthermore, the isolation of the specific gene may pave the way for the isolation of novel pigments from the fungus. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report on pigment production using jackfruit seed powder in solid-state fermentation (SSF) and separation by using ethanol extract.
