UNIVERSITI KUALA LUMPUR

MALAYSIAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL

& BIOENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING CPB 30103

(Lab Report 5 )

Title : Food grade red pigment production of penicillium sp.

Advisor : DR.TONG WOEI YENN

Section : L01 – P4

Name : SHAFIQ ASHRAF BIN ASLI

Student id : 55201113569

Contact no : 0145277350
1.0 Result
Table 1 : observation on the characteristic of fungal culture
Criteria aspect Observation

Diameter of colony 7.9 cm

Color of colony Green

Color of reverse colony Brown

Color of spores White

Form Circular

Margin Entire

Pigmentation on the agar Reddish- brown

Table 2 : Value of optical density of sample in the spectrophotometer

Sample Without the sample With the sample

Optical density 0.000 0.176

Table 3 : Calculated weight of dry biomass

Number of trial Weight of dry Weight of dry Mean Standard

biomass in the biomass (g) deviation
beaker (g)
(g)
Trial 1 64.89 1.54

Trial 2 64.89 1.54 1.54 0.00577

Trial3 64.88 1.53

*** Mass of empty Beaker = 63.35 g

2.0 Discussion

In this experiment, the main objective is to know the behavior of the penicilium sp. in food
grade red pigment production and to know the potential of this species in natural pigment producer.
There are a few step that need to be done in order to archieve this objective. First of all, it is needed
to transfer a fungal spore suspension aseptically into yeast extract sucrose medium which contain
40 g/L sucrose, 20 g/L yeast extract and 0.5 g/L magnesium sulphate with pH 6. Then , this solution
is incubate in the flask culture for 14 day at room temperature. The flask is shake every to mix the
cultures.

Based on the result, the characteristic of the penicilium sp have been observed. In termed
of biotechnology, the colony characteristic is been describe by the method name colony
morphology. In this observation, the diameter of colony measured is 7.9 cm. Color of fungal
culture also is been recorded green. Usually the pigment that in green color is from plant. Next, it
is found that the color of the reverse colony is brown. It is different from what we have read which
is the reverse colony should pale to yellow color. From this experiment also, we found that the
form of the fungal culture is in circular shape and the color of spore is white. We also found that
the color of pigmentation on the agar spotted is reddish brown.

We also weight the dry biomass after filter the culture. In this experiment the average mean
of culture recorded is 1.54 g and its standard deviation calculated is 0.00577. The pH of the culture
medium has been reported to play a key role in pigment synthesis. Penicillium was cultivated at
pH 6 in shake flask cultures. Our results indicated that biomass and pigment production was
slightly affected by initial pH of the medium. The highest biomass and pigment production will be
obtained if the initial pH of culture medium set at pH 7 to pH 9.

Lastly, the optical density if the sample is been tested using spectrophotometer. From test , it is
shown thah the optical density value is 0.176.
3.0 Question
1. Discuss industrial application of penicillium sp.

Penicillium sp is one of the fungi that used major in food industry. Penicillium sp.
have many type for example Penicillium griseofulvum , Penicillium chrysogenum and
Penicillium nalgiovense. The food industrial such as cheese making and cure meat product
industry use penicillium as Some of these fungi whose presence is beneficial for the
product are nowadays used as starters, as a means to colonize homogeneously the cheese
or meat piece, thus preventing the eventual colonization by undesirable fungi and
bacteria. Some of the fungal species most widely used as starters are Penicillium
nalgiovense and Penicillium chrysogenum for meat products, Penicillium roqueforti for
Roquefort cheese, and Penicillium camemberti for Camembert cheese. Most fungi growing
on food are producers of mycotoxins and antibiotics , and the presence of the compounds
secreted by the fungus in the colonized food product has been reported on different
occasions. It is important to know the required species that can be used in industry because
the penicillium actually is the fungi that need to be avoided in the food. It can make the
food become spoil and give disease to the people who eat the food.

2. Explain the concept of “ Microbiol cell factories “ .

Microbial Cell Factories is an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal that

covers any topic related to the development, use and investigation of microbial cells as
producers of recombinant proteins and natural products, or as catalyzers of biological
transformations of industrial interest. Microbial cell factories is used widely in industry
pharmaceutical,
The Cell Factory concept stresses the relevance of host cell genetics and metabolism in the
context of the production process, and focus on the physiological aspects of the productive
event.The diversity of microbial cell types being incorporated as cell factories which
commonly name as bacteria, archae, yeast and filamentous fungi, the methodological
adaptation of productive processes through new genetic engineering tools, microreactors,
metagenomic approaches and the diversity of fields in which cell factories become critical
.Structural biology, food microbiology, natural products, biominery, nanotechnology and
biosensing among other has dramatically expanded the scope covered by Microbial Cell
Factories.
4.0 Comment

There are several factor that can give negative result when conduct the experiment. This
situation occur usually happen when the manual of experiment is not followed correctly. First of
all, the working place must be clear from any things to related and clean the place with 70% ethanol
to provide a gap between microorganism environment and sterile culture culture. Next, the sterile
handling must be correct in order to prevent microorganism become contaminate. Always sterile
the equipment used before and after conduct the experiment. In addition, the micropipette use is
same all the time and micropipette tip need to change at each dilution factor. Lastly , the flask
containing pigment must be shaking properly to avoid shock to the microorganism.
5.0 Conclusion

As a conclusion, the experiment is successfully handle although there are several error that
occur during experiment conducted. To decrease the error to the lowest percentage, the experiment
should be handling with care to avoid any contamination towards the sample. Always follow the
guide provided from the manual and always follow instructor instruction.for the experiment, it is
known the characteristic of penicillium sp. which is one of the potential fungus strain that can
produces a chromophore of the anthraquinone type, a red colorant which can be applied in the food
and cosmetic industries. Some strains of same species are effective biological control agent and
others have been used for production of milk clotting enzyme (Sardaryan et al., 2004) . Thus, this
experiment have meet its objective.
6.0 References

1. Gunasekaran S, Poorniammal R. Optimization of fermentation conditions for red pigment

production from Penicillium sp. under submerged cultivation. Afr J
Biotechnol. 2008;7(12):1894–1898.
2. Hernández-Rivera JS, Méndez-Zavala A, Pérez-Berúmen C, et al. Culture Conditions to
Improve the Red Pigment Production by Penicillium purpurogenum GH2. In: Soto-Cruz
O, Angel PM, Gallegos-Infante A, et al., editors. Advance in Food Science and Food
Biotechnology in Developing Countries. Saltillo, Mexico: Mex Asoc Food Sci Editions;
2008. pp. 108–112.