Abstract
Due to the increasing demand for sustainable biofuels, microbial oils as feedstock for the transesterification into biodiesel have gained scientific and commercial interest. Also, microbial carotenoids have a considerable market potential as natural colorants. The carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio of the respective cultivation media is one of the most important parameters that influence the production of microbial lipids and carotenoids. Thus, in the present experiment, the influence of different C/N ratios, initial glucose loadings, and ammonium concentrations of the cultivation medium on microbial cell growth and lipid and carotenoid production by the oleaginous red yeast Rhodotorula glutinis has been assessed. As a general trend, both lipid and carotenoid production increased at high C/N ratios. It was shown that not only the final C/N ratio but also the respectively applied initial carbon and nitrogen contents influenced the observed parameters. The lipid yield was not affected by different ammonium contents, while the carotenoid production significantly decreased both at low and high levels of ammonium supply. A glucose-based increase from C/N 70 to 120 did not lead to an increased lipid production, while carotenoid synthesis was positively affected. Generally, it can be asserted that lipid and carotenoid synthesis are stimulated at higher C/N ratios.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ageitos JM, Vallejo JA, Veiga-Crespo P, Villa TG (2001) Oily yeasts as oleaginous cell factories. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 90:1219–1227
Aksu Z, Eren AT (2007) Production of carotenoids by the isolated yeast Rhodotorula glutinis. Biochem Eng J 35:107–113
Alvarez RM, Rodríguez B, Romano JM, Diaz AO, Gomez E, Miró D, Navarro L, Saura G, Garcia JL (1992) Lipid accumulation in Rhodotorula glutinis on sugar cane molasses in single-stage continuous culture. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 8:214–215
Angerbauer C, Siebenhofer M, Mittelbach M, Guebiz GM (2008) Conversion of sewage sludge into lipids by Lipomyces starkeyi for biodiesel production. Bioresour Technol 99:3051–3056
Bligh EG, Dyer WJ (1956) A rapid method of total lipid extraction and purification. Can J Biochem Phys 37:911–917
Buzzini P, Innocenti M, Turchetti B, Libkind D, van Brook M, Mulinacci N (2007) Carotenoid profiles of yeast belonging to the genera Rhodotorula, Rhodosporidium, Sporobolomyces, and Sporidiobolus. Can J Microbiol 53:1024–1031
Buzzini P, Martini A (2000) Production of carotenoids by strains of Rhodotorula glutinis cultured in raw materials of agro-industrial origin. Bioresour Technol 71:41–44
Cheirslip B, Suwannarat W, Niyomdecha R (2011) Mixed culture of oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula glutinis and microalga Chlorella vulgaris for lipid production from industrial wastes and its use as biodiesel feedstock. New Biotechnol 28:362–368
Chi Z, Zhang Y, Jiang A, Chen Z (2011) Lipid production by culturing oleaginous yeast and algae with food waste and municipal wastewater in an integrated process. Appl Biochem Biotech 165:442–453
EU (2009) Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC. Off J European Union L140/16
Flores-Cotera LB, Martin R, Sánchez S (2001) Citrate, a possible precursor of astaxanthin in Phaffia rhodozyma: influence of varying levels of ammonium, phosphate and citrate in a chemically defined medium. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 55:341–347
Frengova G, Beshkova DM (2009) Carotenoids from Rhodotorula and Phaffia: yeast of biotechnological importance. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 36:163–180
Frengova G, Simova E, Pavlova K, Beshkova B, Grigorova D (1994) Formation of carotenoids by Rhodotorula glutinis in whey ultrafiltrate. Biotechnol Bioeng 44:888–894
Johnson V, Singh M, Saini VS, Sista VR, Yadav NK (1992) Effect of pH on lipid accumulation by an oleaginous yeast: Rhodotorula glutinis IIP-30. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 8:382–384
Karanth NG, Sattur AP (1991) Mathematical modelling of production of microbial lipids. Bioprocess Eng 6:241–248
Knothe G (2005) Dependence of biodiesel fuel properties on the structure of fatty acid alkyl esters. Fuel Process Technol 86:1059–1070
Latha BV, Jeevaratnam K, Murali HS, Manja KS (2005) Influence of growth factors in carotenoid pigmentation of Rhodotorula glutinis DFR-PDY from natural source. Indian J Biotechnol 4:353–357
Malisorn C, Suntornsuk W (2008) Optimization of β-carotene production by Rhodotorula glutinis DM28 in fermented radish brine. Bioresour Technol 99:2281–2287
Meng X, Yang J, Xu X, Zhang L, Nie Q, Xian M (2009) Biodiesel production from oleaginous microorganisms. Renew Energy 34:1–5
Mondala AH, Hernandez R, French T, McFarland L, Santo Domingo JW, Meckes M, Ryu H, Iker B (2012) Enhanced lipid and biodiesel production from glucose-fed activated sludge: kinetics and microbial community analysis. AICHE J 58:1279–1290
Papanikolaou S, Aggelis G (2001) Lipids of oleaginous yeast. Part I. Biochemistry related with single cell oil production. J Lipid Sci Technol 113:1031–1051
Papanikolaou S, Muniglia L, Chevalot I, Aggelis G, Marc I (2002) Yarrowia lipolytica as a potential producer of citric acid from raw glycerol. J Appl Microbiol 92:737–744
Perrier V, Dubreucq E, Galzy P (1995) Fatty acid and carotenoids composition of Rhodotorula strains. Arch Microbiol 164:173–179
Radledge C, Cohen Z (2008) Microbial and algal oils: do they have a future for biodiesel or as commodity oils? Lipid Technol 20:155–160
Ramírez J, Gutierrez H, Gschaedler A (2001) Optimization of astaxanthin production by Phaffia rhodozyma through factorial design and response surface methodology. J Biotechnol 88:259–268
Saenge C, Cheirslip B, Suksaroge TT, Bourtoom T (2011) Efficient concomitant production of lipids and carotenoids by oleaginous red yeast Rhodotorula glutinis cultured in palm oil mill effluent and application of lipids for biodiesel production. Biotechnol Bioprocess Eng 16:23–33
Somashekar D, Joseph R (2000) Inverse relationship between carotenoid and lipid formation in Rhodotorula gracilis according to the C/N ratio of the growth medium. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 16:491–493
Subramaniam R, Dufreche S, Zappi M, Bajpaj R (2010) Microbial lipids from renewable resources: production and characterization. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 37:1271–1287
Tinoi J, Rakariyatham N, Deming RL (2005) Simplex optimization of carotenoid production by Rhodotorula glutinis using hydrolyzed mung bean waste flour as substrate. Process Biochem 40:2551–2557
Weber RWS, Anke H, Davoli P (2007) Simple method for the extraction and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of carotenoid pigments from red yeast (Basidiomycota, Fungi). J Chromatogr A 1145:118–122
Xue F, Gao B, Zhu Y, Zhang X, Feng W, Tan T (2010) Pilot-scale production of microbial lipid using starch wastewater as raw material. Bioresour Technol 101:6092–6095
Yousuf A (2012) Biodiesel from lignocellulosic biomass—prospects and challenges. Waste Manage 32:2061–2067
Zhang G, French WT, Hernandez R, Alley E, Paraschivescu M (2011) Effects of furfural and acetic acid on growth and lipid production from glucose and xylose by Rhodotorula glutinis. Biomass Bioenergy 35:734–740
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Braunwald, T., Schwemmlein, L., Graeff-Hönninger, S. et al. Effect of different C/N ratios on carotenoid and lipid production by Rhodotorula glutinis . Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97, 6581–6588 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-013-5005-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-013-5005-8