Abstract
Carotenoids have received considerable attention due to their interesting industrial applications and, more importantly, their potential beneficial effects on human health. Halophiles comprise a heterogeneous group of microorganisms that need salts for optimal growth. The pigments produced by these halophilic organisms comprise phytoene, β-carotene, lycopene, derivatives of bacterioruberin, and salinixanthin. Here, we describe the procedure to obtain salinixanthin from the extremely halophilic bacterium Salinibacter ruber. Additionally, we describe the expression of the β-carotene biosynthetic genes crtE, crtY, crtI, and crtB from Pantoea agglomerans in the moderately halophilic bacterium Halomonas elongata obtaining a strain able to produce practically pure β-carotene. Thus, the use of these halophilic microorganisms as a source of carotenoids constitutes an important commercial alternative in the production of carotenoids from biological sources.
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de Lourdes Moreno, M., Sánchez-Porro, C., García, M.T., Mellado, E. (2012). Carotenoids’ Production from Halophilic Bacteria. In: Barredo, JL. (eds) Microbial Carotenoids from Bacteria and Microalgae. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 892. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-879-5_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-879-5_12
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