Special Issue "Pigment Production in Submerged Fermentation, 2nd Edition"

Dear Colleagues,

The previous edition of Special Issue “Pigment Production in Submerged Fermentation” in Journal of Fermentation just closed with 13 publications including 12 research and 1 review. It’s now time to open its next edition to present the latest advances in pigment production research both in academia and industry.

There is a considerable increase in consumer demand for natural, sustainable, clean-label in all sectors which includes food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, textiles, painting, printing inks, etc. As the growing use of natural pigments in various industries, more particularly the food industry has seen a long-term structural shift from synthetic to natural sources, which is projected to drive the market growth rate and thereby boost its demand globally. To meet those global demands, microorganisms have been considered and are widely being researched as a promising niche for pigment production owing to their vast diversity in nature, easy massive production, possessing diverse chemical structures with bioactive properties. This indicates that future generations will depend on microbial pigments over synthetic colorants for a sustainable livelihood. Indeed, there are still more untapped sources to produce pigmented compounds that need to be explored. This Special Issue edition 2.0 aims to collect both review and research articles on exciting findings and significant advances related to:

• Pigment production from different sources of microbes isolated from terrestrial or marine ecosystems, including actinobacteria, archaebacteria, cyanobacteria, bacteria, fungi, microalgae, and yeasts by submerged fermentation;
• Studies on different biosynthetic pathways of pigment class such as carotenoids and polyketide derived colorants;
• Utilization of agro-industrial wastes as an alternative media substitute for pigment production and its enhancement under submerged fermentation;
• Any scale-up studies from bench to pilot scale, by studying the impact of different process parameters on growth and pigment production, challenges arising during fermentation and how they are addressed;
• Characterization and identification of pigments using high throughput LC-MS analyses;
• Insights on the use of alternative green extraction techniques for easy downstream processing and yield improvement for pigments;
• Production and identification of various bioactive pigmented compounds produced by microbes and their potential application in various sectors;
• Exploration of current applications of pigments in different industries such as food, beverage, pharma, cosmetics, textiles, inks, leathers, paintings; its associated challenges, usage limitations and further opportunities;
• Review on start-ups and industrial players targeted towards fermentation-based pigment production

Dr. Mekala Venkatachalam
Prof. Dr. Laurent Dufossé
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fermentation is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• microorganisms
• microbial pigments
• natural colorants
• secondary metabolites
• biodiversity
• submerged fermentation
• biosynthetic pathway
• culture conditions
• pigment characterization
• bioactive pigments