Abstract
The demand for natural colors is increasing day by day due to harmful effects of some synthetic dyes. Bacterial and fungal pigments provide a readily available alternative source of naturally derived pigments. In contrast to other natural pigments, they have enormous advantages including rapid growth, easy processing, and independence of weather conditions. Apart from colorant, bacterial and fungal pigments possess many biological properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial and anticancer activity. This review outlines different types of pigments. It lists some bacterial and fungal pigments and current bacterial and fungal pigment status and challenges. It also focuses on possible fungal and bacterial pigment applications.
Highlights
Color affects every bit of life, including the clothes we wear, the furniture in our home, and the allure of food (Downham and Collins, 2000; Manikprabhu and Lingappa, 2013)
Bacterial and fungal pigments have extensive applications (Table 1) and have an enormous advantage over plant pigments, including easy and rapid growth in low cost medium, easy processing, and growth that is independent of weather conditions (Manikprabhu and Lingappa, 2013)
Though microbial pigments are several times more expensive, they still can compete with synthetic dyes for being natural and safe (Venil et al, 2013)
Summary
Color affects every bit of life, including the clothes we wear, the furniture in our home, and the allure of food (Downham and Collins, 2000; Manikprabhu and Lingappa, 2013). The use of pigments as coloring agents has been practiced since prehistoric times. The use of pigment in prehistoric times was further proven when pigments and grinding equipments, which were between 350,000 and 400,000 years old, were found in a cave at Twin Rivers, near Lusaka, Zambia (Kassinger, 2003). The addition of color to food started in Egypt when candy makers added natural extracts to their candy. The use of natural colorants in food was seen in Japan in the shosoin text of the Nara period (8th century) that contains references to coloring soybean and adzuki-bean cakes (Aberoumand, 2011). The first synthetic color, mauvine, was developed by Sir William Henry Perkin in 1856 and this development started a revolution in the history of synthetic colorants (Walford, 1980)
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