The main goal of our research was to develop a cultivation process of Monascus purpureus in which the chief premise was to achieve the lowest levels of nephrotoxic metabolite citrinin, while also making sure that the amount of pharmacologically significant important statin monacolin K did not decrease or, potentially, increase. Our primary focus was the effect of cocultivation of M. purpureus with different types of healing saprophytic fungi. Baseline studies made it possible for us to gain a deeper insight into the reciprocal effects between different types of fungi, more specifically focusing on the biosynthesis of citrinin and monacolin K. Optimised cultivation and cocultivation took place in glass jars and was carried out on a mixture of proso millet and rice at different initial water content in the substrate. Our findings show that temperature, the duration of the incubation time, substrate composition, initial water content in the substrate, the chosen strain of M. purpureus and the fungi Flammulina velutipes and Trametes versicolor with which M. purpureus was cocultivated and the process of handling samples for analysis are all factors that affect the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites (monacolin K, citrinin and pigments), ergosterol, pH value, the loss of dry mass and content of water in a freshly overgrown substrate.
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