Abstract

Marine derived fungi are widely distributed microorganisms in the ocean, particularly associated with algae, sponges, corals, sea grasses, sediments, submerged plants, and mangroves, among others (Balabanova et al 2018 Fungi associated with seaweed have gained attention in recent years, because they are a prolific source of secondary metabolites that exhibit a range of biological activities (Wang et al 20232023;Wang et al 2023 fermentation of inexpensive carbohydrate containing feedstocks, such as alginates in brown algae, could reduce the production costs of these compoundscompounds.Microbial pigments have been widely used in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries to enhance the coloration of products while taking advantage of their bioactive properties ..(Fig. 1) (Lagashetti et al., 2019)).The genus Asteromyces is an underexplored marine derived filamentous fungus belonging to the division of deuteromycetesdeuteromycetes.This study shows for the first time the specific culture conditions ( glucose concentration, NaCl concentration and yeast extract concentration) that favor the growth of the fungus Asteromyces cruciatus the synthesis of orange pigments, as well as its antioxidant activity