MARINE-DERIVED FUNGI PRODUCING RED ANTHRAQUINONES: NEW RESOURCES FOR NATURAL COLORS?

International audienceIn industries, authorized red pigments are mainly issued from plants (as lycopene from tomato orbetalains from beetroot), cochineal insects (carmine red) or from chemical synthesis. Their uses aremore and more questioned with regard to the culture constraints or health problems. New resourcesfor the production of natural red colorants are therefore under focus [1, 2]. Marine-derived fungiare at the forefront in the search of new compounds of interest that could be produced throughbiotechnology [3]. In the field of colors, the marine-derived microfungi are able to synthesize awide diversity of pigments/ hues, amongst which red anthraquinones are well represented. Some oftheir main advantages are they are considered as natural, and their productions are « upscalable » inan industrial point of view. This work highlights the anthraquinoid red pigments known, up to date,from marine-derived fungi. We summarize about thirty compounds produced from about 25 strainsthat have been discovered in the former years. Beside the widespread Aspergillus, Alternaria,Eurotium, Fusarium or Penicillium, some original genera as Halorosellinia, Nigrospora,Stemphylium or Xylaria were identified as red anthraquinoid molecules’s producers. Well knownsubstances such as austrocortinin, catenarin, erythroglaucin or bostrycin were characterized in thefungal productions, as well as several new compounds, never mentioned, up to now, from otherorganisms. They could interestingly be further studied as potential sources of red colors to beoperated in food, cosmetic or dyeing industries. Beside their coloring properties, these compoundssometimes exhibit diverse biological activities such as antimicrobial or anticancer effects, sparselymentioned in the literature. This aspect, when available, is also documented, in order to examinethe potential use of these compounds and to help broadening the horizon of colors with innovativenatural substances.References:[1] L. Dufossé, M. Fouillaud, Y. Caro, S.A.S. Mapari, N. Sutthiwong, Current Opinion inBiotechnology 26, (2014), 56-61.[2] Y. Caro, L. Anamale, M. Fouillaud, P. Laurent, T. Petit, L. Dufossé, Natural Products andBioprospecting 2, (2012), 174-193.[3] R. Montaser, H. Luesch, Future Medicinal Chemistry 3, (2011), 1475-1489