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Exploitation of Dunaliella for β-carotene production

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Abstract

Halotolerant microalga Dunaliella, which is exploited for the production of dried biomass or cell extract, is used as a medicinal food. With the advancement in this field in recent years, the production of bio-organic compounds such as β-carotene is established in many countries. Large-scale production of β-carotene is controlled by numerous stress factors like high light intensity, high salinity, temperature and availability of nutrients. The state-of-the-art strategies in industries in closed systems under new set of inductive factors will additionally promote the ease of commercial production of β-carotene. This review mainly focuses on the different methodologies employed recently for the optimum production of β-carotene from Dunaliella species.

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Acknowledgment

The authors wish to express their sincere thanks to Prof. N. Anand, Director, Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany, University of Madras. Also, they extend their thanks to Dr. Velu Subramani, Senior Scientist, Research Triangle Institute, USA and Prof. R. Manivasakan, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai for their critical review of the manuscript.

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  1. R. Raja

    Present address: Department of Food science and Nutrition, Hallym University, Chuncheon, South Korea

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  1. Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai, 600 025, India

    R. Raja & R. Rengasamy

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, 600 036, India

    S. Hemaiswarya

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Raja, R., Hemaiswarya, S. & Rengasamy, R. Exploitation of Dunaliella for β-carotene production. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 74, 517–523 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-006-0777-8

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