Produção de esclerotiorina por penicillium sclerotiorum e obtenção de derivados com aplicação potencial em alimentos

Abstract

The fungus Penicillium sclerotiorum produces a wide variety of secondary metabolites, among them the sclerotiorin, which has many uses in food and pharmaceutical industries. Due to its strong orange color, its antioxidant activity and other functions related to cholesterol reduction and treatment of diabetes, this substance has been subject of extensive studies in food science. In this project, substances were produced by esclerotiorin biotransformation with the fungus Beauveria bassiana. Five new products with strong red color were obtained. The change in coloration of the molecule was due to the exchange of the oxygen heteroatom attached to sclerotiorin carbon 1 by a nitrogen atom. The biotransformation experiment was repeated using, as substrate, 1-methyl-sclerotiorin, a semi-synthetic substance, but the same results were not obtained. After these results, it was performed a screening with 14 different fungi, besides Beauveria bassiana, to evaluate their capacity to biotransform sclerotiorin. The extracts were analyzed by HPLC and showed that, from these 14 fungi, nine were able to transform sclerotiorin molecule in one or more substance with red color.