Among the known species of this genus, the red-pigmented Monascus purpureus is among the most important because of its use in the production of certain fermented foods in East Asia, particularly China and Japan.

[1][2] Phylogeny as given by Bisby et al., 2000, who put the genus into a separate family Monascaceae.

[5] All six are produced with a combination of polyketide synthase (PKS) and fatty acid synthase (FAS) In the first step a hexekatide is formed through Type 1 PKS encoded by the Mripig A gene.

[6] The second step is the formation of a fatty acid through the FAS pathway.

[5] The β-keto acid then undergoes a trans-esterification reaction to form one of the two orange pigments.