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Review
. 2021 Mar 18;9(3):637.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9030637.

Ecological and Biotechnological Aspects of Pigmented Microbes: A Way Forward in Development of Food and Pharmaceutical Grade Pigments

Ramesh Chatragadda  1 , Laurent Dufossé  2
Affiliations
Review

Ecological and Biotechnological Aspects of Pigmented Microbes: A Way Forward in Development of Food and Pharmaceutical Grade Pigments

Ramesh Chatragadda et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

Microbial pigments play multiple roles in the ecosystem construction, survival, and fitness of all kinds of organisms. Considerably, microbial (bacteria, fungi, yeast, and microalgae) pigments offer a wide array of food, drug, colorants, dyes, and imaging applications. In contrast to the natural pigments from microbes, synthetic colorants are widely used due to high production, high intensity, and low cost. Nevertheless, natural pigments are gaining more demand over synthetic pigments as synthetic pigments have demonstrated side effects on human health. Therefore, research on microbial pigments needs to be extended, explored, and exploited to find potential industrial applications. In this review, the evolutionary aspects, the spatial significance of important pigments, biomedical applications, research gaps, and future perspectives are detailed briefly. The pathogenic nature of some pigmented bacteria is also detailed for awareness and safe handling. In addition, pigments from macro-organisms are also discussed in some sections for comparison with microbes.

Keywords: biological properties; fluorescent pigments; horizontal gene transfer; pigments evolution.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A wide array of pigmented microbes seen in nature. The abundance of the type of pigmented bacteria is depicted in bars based on the available literature. Rainbow bacteria are iridescent. Classification of pigments based on various aspects of biochromes. Chlorophyll pigments are not included in the data as they are ubiquitous. HGT: Horizontal gene transfer.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Ecological functions and other applications of important microbial pigments.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Acquisition of pigment encoding genes by Archaea, bacteria, and viruses.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Cosmopolitan distribution of well-known pigmented microbes in different geographical areas.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Chemicals structures of synthetic pigments.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Chemical structures of important microbial pigments.
Figure 7
Figure 7
An illustration explaining the requirement of natural colorants over synthetic colorants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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