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Carotenoid Production by Halophilic Archaea Under Different Culture Conditions

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Abstract

Carotenoids are pigments that may be used as colorants and antioxidants in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Since they also benefit human health, great efforts have been undertaken to search for natural sources of carotenoids, including microbial ones. The optimization of culture conditions to increase carotenoid yield is one of the strategies used to minimize the high cost of carotenoid production by microorganisms. Halophilic archaea are capable of producing carotenoids according to culture conditions. Their main carotenoid is bacterioruberin with 50 carbon atoms. In fact, the carotenoid has important biological functions since it acts as cell membrane reinforcement and it protects the microorganism against DNA damaging agents. Moreover, carotenoid extracts from halophilic archaea have shown high antioxidant capacity. Therefore, current review summarizes the effect of different culture conditions such as salt and carbon source concentrations in the medium, light incidence, and oxygen tension on carotenoid production by halophilic archaea and the strategies such as optimization methodology and two-stage cultivation already used to increase the carotenoid yield of these microorganisms.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the National Council for the Improvement of Higher Education (CAPES), a Brazilian governmental agency, and the Pharmaceutical Sciences Post-graduation Program, for the financial support.

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  1. Department of Pharmacy, Enzymology and Fermentation Technology Laboratory, Federal University of Paraná, Av. Pref. Lothário Meissner, 632, Curitiba, Paraná, 80210-170, Brazil

    Rossana Calegari-Santos & Tania Maria Bordin Bonfim

  2. Polytechnic School, Control and Automation Engineering, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Rua Imaculada Conceição, 1155, Curitiba, Paraná, 80215-901, Brazil

    Ricardo Alexandre Diogo

  3. Department of Chemistry and Biology, Federal Technological University of Paraná, Rua Deputado Heitor Alencar Furtado, 5000, Curitiba, Paraná, 81280-340, Brazil

    José Domingos Fontana

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  1. Rossana Calegari-Santos
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Calegari-Santos, R., Diogo, R.A., Fontana, J.D. et al. Carotenoid Production by Halophilic Archaea Under Different Culture Conditions. Curr Microbiol 72, 641–651 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-015-0974-8

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