Aspergillaceae

The Aspergillaceae are a family of moulds, not plants. They are filamentous ascomycete fungi in the order Eurotiales ^{1Reference 1Houbraken J et al. · 2020Classification of Aspergillus, Penicillium, Talaromyces and related genera (Eurotiales): an overview of families, genera, subgenera, sections, series and species — taxonomyView study →}.

A 2020 classification of the Eurotiales, based on a nine-gene DNA dataset, accepts 15 genera in the family. They include Aspergillus, Penicillium and Monascus ^{1Reference 1Houbraken J et al. · 2020Classification of Aspergillus, Penicillium, Talaromyces and related genera (Eurotiales): an overview of families, genera, subgenera, sections, series and species — taxonomyView study →}.

Monascus was long given a family of its own, the Monascaceae. DNA studies now place it in the Aspergillaceae, alongside Aspergillus and Penicillium ^{1,2Reference 1Houbraken J et al. · 2020Classification of Aspergillus, Penicillium, Talaromyces and related genera (Eurotiales): an overview of families, genera, subgenera, sections, series and species — taxonomyView study →Reference 2Barbosa RN et al. · 2017Phylogenetic analysis of Monascus and new species from honey, pollen and nests of stingless bees — taxonomyView study →}.

Red yeast rice is rice fermented with Monascus purpureus, and it is the family’s one entry here. The mould produces monacolin K, which in its lactone form is chemically identical to the prescription statin lovastatin ^{3Reference 3EFSA ANS Panel · 2018Scientific opinion on the safety of monacolins in red yeast rice — regulatory opinionView study →}.

That fact shapes the herb. Red yeast rice lowers cholesterol the way a statin does, and it carries statin risks, including injury to the muscles and the liver ^{3Reference 3EFSA ANS Panel · 2018Scientific opinion on the safety of monacolins in red yeast rice — regulatory opinionView study →}.

Several Monascus species, M. purpureus among them, can also make citrinin, a mycotoxin that should be kept out of red rice ^{2Reference 2Barbosa RN et al. · 2017Phylogenetic analysis of Monascus and new species from honey, pollen and nests of stingless bees — taxonomyView study →}.

Monascus species in section Rubri, which includes M. purpureus, produce three groups of compounds that matter for red yeast rice ^{2Reference 2Barbosa RN et al. · 2017Phylogenetic analysis of Monascus and new species from honey, pollen and nests of stingless bees — taxonomyView study →}:

• the monacolins, chiefly monacolin K
• the red and yellow azaphilone pigments, which colour the rice
• citrinin, the unwanted mycotoxin

These are products of a mould, not plant constituents.