Production of natural colorants by Talaromyces amestolkiae and evaluation of their potential as a photosensitizer for antimicrobial photodynamic therapy

• Grant number: 19/04294-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2019
• End date: November 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Valéria de Carvalho Santos Ebinuma
• Grantee: Isabelle Almeida de Lima
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCFAR). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a strong trend towards the replacement of synthetic colorants with natural ones, due to the increased consumer demand for natural products with less adverse effects on health and the environment. Natural colorants are usually extracted from plants or animals, but alternatively they can be obtained biotechnologically, using microorganisms such as filamentous fungi, which allow large-scale production without being subject to seasonality. These biocompounds have great applicability in several industrial sectors, such as food, pharmaceutical and textiles. In addition, the ability of colorants to absorb light with high efficiency allows them to act in photochemical reactions as therapeutic agents, being used as photosensitizers in Photodynamic therapy. This technique presents as a potential alternative to several treatments, due to its high antimicrobial efficiency, selectivity and non-invasive character. In this way, the present project aims to evaluate the best conditions for the production of red colorants by Talaromyces amestolkiae, and subsequently to evaluate the photosensitizing capacity of these biocomposites. Thus, the development of this project may present a niche of application of these biomolecules.