Development and screening of mutants from Monascus sanguineus for secondary metabolites production

Present study was carried out to develop a potent mutant for enhancing secondary metabolite production from Monascus sanguineus. Ultraviolet (UV) treatment as physical and Ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) as chemical mutagen was used to cultivate the mutants. All obtained mutants were screened for growth and pigment yield on three different synthetic media namely; potato dextrose agar (PDA), malt glucose peptone agar (MGPA) and Czapek Dox yeast extract Agar (CDYA). MGPA media was found suitable for pigment yield whereas appreciable growth was observed with CDYA. Highest pigment yield was obtained for mutants developed at EMS concentration of 0.6 μg/μL (EMS-3) and UV exposed for seven minutes (UV-4). Exposure to UV for 11 min suppressed the pigment production. However this exposed strain (albino) was found to be an efficient producer of lovastatin with no traces of citrinin alike parental strain. Both EMS-3 and UV-4 mutants had synthesized negligible amount of citrinin, well below regulatory toxic levels. Significant variation was also noticed on the spore morphology of tested strains. Aleuroconidia was observed with albino strain whereas clestothesium along with pigmented ascospores were noticed with UV-4 and EMS-3 mutants. In a nutshell, these strains can be endorsed as nontoxic and safe for human consumption. Keywords: Citrinin, Albino, Pigment, Mutants, Clestothesiu