title: Carotenoids' production from halophilic bacteria.
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.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología y Parasitología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Lourdes Moreno
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Porro
authors.forename: María Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Encarnación
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mellado
mesh_terms: D002338:Carotenoids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006216:Halobacteriaceae / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002338:Carotenoids