Production of High-Purity Carotenoids by Fermenting Selected Bacterial Strains
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Abstract
The present invention describes a process of production carotenoids in improved fermentation conditions of selected bacterial strains constitutively over-producing carotenoids or mutants thereof, purifying and isolating a specific crystalline carotenoid, preferably beta-carotene, for its use in the feed, food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical sectors. The present invention also describes a method for obtaining mutant strains constitutively overproducing carotenoids from naturally occurring bacterial strains, permitting the selection of mutants with high carotenoid yields and specificity towards a specific carotenoid. Additionally the invention describes the use of this method on obtained mutant strains for further improvement thereof. The present invention also describes said strains and improved conditions of fermentation for obtaining high concentrations of carotenoids and specificity towards a specific carotenoid, and further discloses purification steps, without cell disruption, for the extraction of carotenoids from the biomass.
13 Citations
42 Claims
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1-22. -22. (canceled)
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23. A process for the production of high purity carotenoids using a naturally occurring bacterial strain over-producing carotenoids, or a mutant thereof, comprising:
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a) inducing a mutation in a selected naturally occurring bacterial strain which over-produces carotenoids or a mutant thereof and screening for a mutant strain with improved total carotenoid accumulation or improved accumulated fraction of single carotenoid in relation to total carotenoids; b) culturing said bacterial strain in a fermentation step performed as a submerged culture in a controlled bioreactor at a temperature range between 22°
C. and 29°
C. and a dissolved oxygen concentration below 30% saturation, andc) optionally extracting and purifying the intracellularly accumulated carotenoid from the obtained biomass. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 38, 41, 42)
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- 36. A Sphingomonas strain M63Y characterized in that it is defined by SEQ ID No 2.
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37. A Sphingomonas strain M63Y defined by the following biochemical and growth profile parameters:
- is Gram-negative, rod shaped and non-spore forming, growing as round, smooth, orange colonies on nutrient agar, between 20 and 30°
C., with optimum growth at 27°
C., containing meso-diaminopimelic acid (meso-Dpm), typical of the peptidoglycan type A1γ
, having ubiquinone-10 has the major isoprenoid quinone and 18;
1 w7c the major fatty acid, producing polar lipids, including sphingoglycolipids, and carotenoids, mainly beta-carotene, with a G+C content of the DNA of the strain M63Y was 66.6 mol. - View Dependent Claims (40)
- is Gram-negative, rod shaped and non-spore forming, growing as round, smooth, orange colonies on nutrient agar, between 20 and 30°
Specification