Enhancement of mangiferin by fungal endophytes isolated from Salacia chinensis L. and Salacia oblonga Wall.

Microbes residing in the internal tissues of a plant are called endophytes, and are known for producing phytochemicals such as taxol, podophyllotoxin, azadirachtin and vinca alkaloids. In this study, out of five isolates from Salacia species, two fungi Penicillium capsulatum and Aspergillus fumigatus have been evaluated and confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification for their endophytic action to produce mangiferin. Mangiferin has been reported to possess protective properties, including antioxidant, antidiabetic and immunomodulatory. It has been reported that the content of mangiferin is 7-9% in Mangifera indica, and is also present in other plants like Swertia chirata, Salacia chinensis, and Hypericum aucheri. Therefore, an attempt was made to explore the biotechnological approach and regulation studies to increase the production of mangiferin in S. chinensis and S. oblonga. Endophytes were isolated, screened, and analyzed, to evaluate the mangiferin in fungal extracts in comparison with crude plant extracts. An HPLC analysis was used to determine the mangiferin content present in the fungal extract of S. chinensis stem (74.74 g/mL), followed by fungi extracts of S. oblonga root (33.75 g/mL) and S. chinensis root (30.50 g/mL), compared with the plant extracts. These results were confirmed by FTIR analyses

Production of angkak through co-culture of Monascus purpureus and Monascus ruber

Angkak (red mold rice, red yeast rice, Chinese red rice) is a traditional Chinese medicine produced by solid-state fermentation of cooked non-glutinous rice with Monascus species. The secondary metabolite of Monascus species, monacolin K /lovastatin, has been proven to lower blood lipid levels. In this study, a co-culture of Monascus purpureus MTCC 369 and Monascus ruber MTCC 1880 was used for angkak production. Four medium parameters screened by Plackett-Burman design were optimized by response surface methodology for highest lovastatin production in angkak during solid-state fermentation by the co-culture. Maximum lovastatin production of 2.84 mg g-1 was predicted in solid medium containing 20 g rice and 40 ml liquid nutrients medium (malt extract 9.68 g l-1, dextrose 38.90 g l-1, MnSO4.H2O 1.96 g l-1, and MgSO4.7H2O 0.730 g l-1) by point prediction tool of Design Expert 7.1 software (Statease Inc. USA).