Lee Chun-Lin, Wang Jyh-Jye, Kuo Shing-Lin, Pan Tzu-Ming
Institute of Microbiology and Biochemistry, National Taiwan University, 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Tapei 10617, Taiwan.
Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2006 Oct;72(6):1254-62. doi: 10.1007/s00253-006-0404-8. Epub 2006 Mar 28.
Monacolin K, an inhibitor for cholesterol synthesis, is the secondary metabolite of Monascus species. The formation of the secondary metabolites of the Monascus species is affected by cultivation environment and method. This research uses sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), potato (Solanum tuberosum), casava (Manihot esculenta), and dioscorea (Dioscorea batatas) as the substrates and discusses the best substrate to produce monacolin K. The results show that Monascus purpureus NTU 301, with dioscorea as the substrate, can produce monacolin K at 2,584 mg kg(-1), which is 5.37 times to that resulted when rice is used as the substrate. In addition, more amount of yellow pigment can be found in Monascus-fermented dioscorea than in Monascus-fermented rice. The certain composition of yellow pigment is identified as monascin, which has been shown as an antiinflammation agent exhibiting potent inhibitory effects on 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced inflammation in mice in previous studies. Therefore, dioscorea is concluded to be the best substrate for Monascus species to produce the cholesterol-lowering agent-monacolin K and antiinflammation agent-monascin.
莫纳可林K是一种胆固醇合成抑制剂，是红曲霉菌种的次生代谢产物。红曲霉菌种次生代谢产物的形成受培养环境和方法的影响。本研究以甘薯（Ipomoea batatas）、马铃薯（Solanum tuberosum）、木薯（Manihot esculenta）和薯蓣（Dioscorea batatas）为底物，探讨生产莫纳可林K的最佳底物。结果表明，以薯蓣为底物的紫红曲霉NTU 301可产生2584 mg kg(-1)的莫纳可林K，是以大米为底物时产量的5.37倍。此外，红曲发酵薯蓣中发现的黄色素比红曲发酵大米中的更多。已确定黄色素的某些成分是红曲红素，在先前的研究中，红曲红素已被证明是一种抗炎剂，对12-O-十四烷酰佛波醇-13-乙酸酯（TPA）诱导的小鼠炎症具有显著的抑制作用。因此，得出结论，薯蓣是红曲霉菌种生产降胆固醇剂莫纳可林K和抗炎剂红曲红素的最佳底物。
