16. Pigments and Colorants from Filamentous Fungi

With the impact of globalization on research trends; the search for healthier lifestyles; the increasing public demand for natural, organic, and “clean labelled” products; as well as the growing global market for natural colorants in economically fast-growing countries all over the world, filamentous fungi started to be investigated as readily available sources of chemically diverse pigments and colorants. The formulation of recipes containing fungal pigmented secondary metabolites has steadily increased over recent years. For all of these reasons, this chapter highlights exciting findings, which may pave the way for alternative and/or additional biotechnological processes for industrial applications of fungal pigments and colorants. The fungal biodiversity from terrestrial and marine origins is first discussed as potential sources of well-known carotenoid pigments (e.g., β-carotene, lycopene) and other specific pigmented polyketide molecules, such as Monascus and Monascus-like azaphilones, which are yet not known to be biosynthesized by any other organisms like higher plants. These polyketide pigments also represent promising and yet unexplored hydroxy-anthraquinoid colorants from Ascomycetous species. The putative biosynthetic pathways of the carotenoids and polyketide-derivative colored molecules (i.e., azaphilones, hydroxyanthraquinones, and naphthoquinones) in pigment-producing fungal species are investigated herein. As an additional aspect, this chapter describes biotechnological approaches for improving fungal pigment production and identifying new clean opportunities for the future. Alternative greener extraction processes of the fungal colored compounds are also further explored. The current industrial applications along with their limits and further opportunities for the use of fungal pigments in beverage, food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, textile, and painting areas are, then, presented.