Abstract
Engineering halophilic bacteria to produce carotenoids is a subject of great scientific and commercial interest, as carotenoids are desirable products used as additives and colorants in the food industry, with β-carotene the most prominent. With this target, we expressed the β-carotene biosynthetic genes crtE, crtY, crtI, and crtB from Pantoea agglomerans and the cDNA encoding isopentenyl pyrophosphate isomerase from Haematococcus pluvialis in the halophilic bacterium Halomonas elongata obtaining a strain able to produce practically pure β-carotene. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis showed crtY, crtI, and crtB heterologous expression in a selected exconjugant of H. elongata. Biosynthesis of β-carotene was dependent on NaCl concentration in the culture medium, with the highest production (560 μg per g of dry weight) in 2% NaCl. On the contrary, no β-carotene was detected in 15% NaCl. Successful construction of the β-carotene biosynthetic pathway in H. elongata opens the possibility of engineering halophilic bacteria for carotenoid production.
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Acknowledgment
We thank Dr. F. X. Cunningham for β-carotene biosynthetic genes and M. Sandoval, P. Merino, A. Morán, C. Flórez, and C. Aller for technical assistance.
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Rodríguez-Sáiz, M., Sánchez-Porro, C., De La Fuente, J.L. et al. Engineering the halophilic bacterium Halomonas elongata to produce β-carotene. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 77, 637–643 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-007-1195-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-007-1195-2