Pigment Production Using Fungal Biotechnology: Recent Advances, Applications, and Challenges

The increasing demand for renewable and toxic-free substitutes to artificial colorants have placed fungal pigments at the forefront of fungal biotechnology research. Natural colorants can be used as dyes for textiles, leather, and paper, as well as in food additives and cosmetics. Modern industry uses colorants or pigments sourced from flora as well as microorganisms. Non-conventional sources, namely filamentous fungal species (notably basidiomycetes and ascomycetes) as well as lichens, generate a variety of hues, encompassing chemical categories of pigments like carotenoids, azaphilones, polyketides, and melanins. Fungal biotechnology allows scalable pigment production that is economical and eco-friendly. This chapter highlights the potential of fungal pigments as a sustainable option over current sources. Including greener extraction methods for intracellular and extracellular pigments and explains how environmental concerns can drive interest in fungi. It also emphasizes multidisciplinary and biotechnological methods for overcoming the challenges of the pigment industry.