Identification of Various Colored Monascus sp and its Biopigments and Citrinin Production in RMR

The isolation of the orange-colored Monascus spp (YK21A, YK27A, and PN29A) and white-colored Monascus spp (YK21B, YK27B, and PN29B) has been done from commercial red mold rice (RMR). The purpose of this study was to identify the species of Monascus spp and study the biosynthesis of pigments and citrinin in RMR. The species identification is done molecularly using amplification of the partial -tubulin gene. Solid fermentation with rice substrate for 14 days was used to determine the biosynthesis of pigments and citrinin. Based on the results of molecular identification, it was known that both orange- and white-colored Monascus were Monascus purpureus. The total pigments of Monascus obtained from fermentation were 267.08-367.00 AU/g and 56.54 - 86.83 AU/g, with hue values ranging from 25.4-32.0 and 34.4-49.2 respectively to orange and white ones. While the resulting citrinin was 11.44-113.68 ppm and 0.38-0.86 ppm respectively for the orange and white ones. Strong correlation between total pigment and citrinin (R2 = 0.8046) and between hue and citrinin (R2 = -0.8853) were indicated.