Abstract
The world demands new solutions and products to be used as dyes for industrial applications. Microbial pigments represent an eco-friendly alternative as they can be produced in large amounts through biotechnological processes and do not present environmental risks, as they are easily decomposable. Moreover, some of these metabolites are recognized for their biological activities, which qualify them for potential uses as food colorants and nutraceuticals, protecting against degenerative diseases related with oxidative stress. Because of their genetic simplicity as compared with plants, microorganisms may be a better source to understand biosynthetic mechanisms and to be engineered for producing high pigment yields. Despite the origin of the pigmented microorganism, it seems very important to develop protocols using organic industrial residues and agricultural byproducts as substrates for pigment production and find novel green strategies for rapid pigment extraction. This review looks for the most recent studies that describe microbial pigments from microalgae, fungi, and bacteria. In particular, the underexploited tools of omics science such as proteomics and metabolomics are addressed. The use of techniques involving mass spectrometry, allows to identify different protein and metabolite profiles that may be associated with a variety of biotechnologically-relevant pathways of pigment synthesis.
Highlights
Pigments have become an essential part of our daily lives and have extensive applications in many areas, such as agriculture, textiles, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, foods, among others (Yusuf et al, 2017; Venil et al, 2020a)
Enzymatic Ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) was used for obtaining the natural food colorant C-phycocyanin from dry biomass of Arthrospira platensis and this method resulted in the highest yield (92.73 mg/g dry biomass) and extraction efficiency (78%) among the methods studied (Tavanandi and Raghavarao, 2019)
Future research should be conducted for improvement in methodologies for pigment extraction and purification, seeking for environmentally safe approaches reducing solvent use and energy inputs, easy methodologies that allows feasible scale-up
Summary
Pigments have become an essential part of our daily lives and have extensive applications in many areas, such as agriculture, textiles, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, foods, among others (Yusuf et al, 2017; Venil et al, 2020a). Microalgae genera as Nostoc, Dunaliella, Scenedesmus, Nannochloropsis, Haematococcus, Muriellopsis, Chlorella, Phaeodactylum, Spirulina, Artrhospira, Porphyridium, Agardhiella, Polysiphonia produce different groups of pigments, such as carotenoids, chlorophylls and phycobiliproteins (PBPs), known as non-toxic water-soluble proteins mostly found in Rhodophyta (red algae), Cyanobacteria, and Cryptophyta (Yusuf et al, 2017; Noreña-Caro and Benton, 2018; Arashiro et al, 2020) Due to their strong absorbance and fluorescence properties as well as antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities, PBPs have been widely employed in food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and biomedical industries (Sonani et al, 2016). Valuable bioactive properties like anticancer, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and immune-suppressor have been associated with fungal pigments (Mapari et al, 2009; Lopes et al, 2013) They present applications in the food and healthcare industries, as dyeing agents in the textile industry, and as cosmetic additives due to the capacity of absorb harmful UV rays (Chen et al, 2019; Lagashetti et al, 2019; Sajjad et al, 2020). SmF, 30◦C, 300 rpm SmF, 25◦C, 100 rpm SST SST, 30◦C, 14 days SmF, 27◦C, 125 rpm SST, 30◦C, 150 rpm SSF SmF 30◦C, 150 rpm SmF, pH 6.5, 350 rpm SST, 30◦C
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