Agro-food wastes utilization by Blakeslea trispora for carotenoids production

The all-trans-β-carotene is a natural pigment used in various industrial fields (food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, etc) and possesses the higher provitamin A activity, in respect to other carotenoids. All-trans-β-carotene is produced industrially by chemical and biotechnological means. For β-carotene biotechnological production in industrial scale mated cultures of Blakeslea trispora, a heterothallic fungus, are mainly used. Despite the intense research for β-carotene production by B. trispora, natural substrate utilization has not been extensively studied. Solid agro-food wastes such as cabbage, watermelon husk and peach peels from northern Greece as main carbon source into submerged B. trispora cultures for carotenoids production, was examined. The media containing only the agro-food waste (2-4) gave a biomass accumulation 7.77 ± 0.4 g/L, while a reference medium 1 with glucose (10 g/L) gave 4.65 ± 0.21 g/L. In another experiments series agro-food wastes were used with corn steep liquor and thiamine (media 6-8), giving a biomass accumulation and total carotenoid volumetric production 10.2 ± 2.41 g/L and 230.49 ± 22.97 mg/L, respectively. These are the higher values reported for solid wastes so far in respect to those obtained from a synthetic medium, with higher glucose concentration of 50 g/L where the correspondent values were 9.41 ± 1.18 g/L and 45.63 mg/L respectively. The results support that B. trispora is able to utilize, almost equivalently, different origin agro-food wastes for carotenoids production. Furthermore, β-carotene percentage in all examined cases was over 76%, as it was estimated by HPLC analysis, suggesting that these agro food wastes may be used for high purity, large scale β carotene production.     

Light induction of the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway in Blakeslea trispora

A gene of Blakeslea trispora has been cloned by heterologous hybridization with the Mucor circinelloides crgA gene, a repressor of light-inducible carotenogenesis. This gene is the ortholog of the M. circinelloides crgA, since it was able to restore the wild-type phenotype of a null crgA mutant of M. circinelloides. The expression of B. trispora crgA gene is light-induced and photoadapted, as occurs for M. circinelloides crgA. Light induction and photoadaptation of B. trispora crgA was also observed in M. circinelloides, which suggests that the mechanisms involved in light regulation are basically conserved between these filamentous fungi. Conservation of the regulatory pathway that controls carotene biosynthesis was supported by the light-induced and photoadapted expression of all structural carotenogenic genes of B. trispora. Consequently, the beta-carotene content of dark grown mycelia of B. trispora increased upon illumination with white light.     

Effect of two ergosterol biosynthesis inhibitors on lycopene production by Blakeslea trispora

Limiting ergosterol accumulation through metabolic control increased lycopene production by Blakeslea trispora. Lycopene and ergosterol are both biosynthesized from a common precursor, farnesyl diphosphate (FPP). The effects of two ergosterol biosynthesis inhibitors, terbinafine hydrochloride (TH) and ketoconazole, on the production of lycopene by B. trispora were investigated. TH at 0.7 mg/l and ketoconazole at 30 mg/l added to the medium at 48 h of fermentation caused an increase in lycopene content of 23% or 277%, respectively. The timing of addition for both inhibitors at 48 h resulted in the most optimal lycopene productivity, however, compared with TH, ketoconazole was superior in enhancing lycopene production by inhibiting ergosterol biosynthesis.     

Chemical regulators of carotenogenesis by Blakeslea trispora

The activation of the carotene biosynthetic pathway in Blakeslea trispora was found to occur by trisporic acid and many other compounds such as abscisic acid, β-ionone, α-ionone and vitamin A which share significant structural similarity with trisporic acid. The magnitude of stimulatory activities of these effectors was in the order trisporic acid > abscisic acid > β-ionone > α-ionone > vitamin A. Comparison of structures and stimulatory activities of all the effectors indicated that the short length of the side chain and the presence of a keto group in the ring structure of the trisporic acid molecule contributed significantly to the biological activity towards carotenogenesis.     

三孢布拉霉发酵产番茄红素的研究进展

番茄红素是一种重要的类胡萝卜素,在生物体中具有抗氧化、抗衰老、提高免疫力等生理功能。虽然已经有部分企业实现了番茄红素的工业化生产,但产量仍然是制约三孢布拉霉发酵生产番茄红素的重要因素。在本实验室研究的基础上,本文结合近年来国内外学者的研究成果,从遗传育种、发酵工艺优化、化学调控等方面综述了提高三孢布拉霉中番茄红素产量的研究进展,并展望了未来的研究方向。     

Trisporoids and carotenogenesis in Blakeslea trispora

The recent data on the pathways of carotenoid biosynthesis, which resulted in revision of the earlier concepts, are analyzed. Trisporoid diversity and their role in the sexual process of mucoraceous fungi, resulting in formation of sexual cells (zygospores) are discussed. Special attention is paid to the role of trisporic acids in carotenogenesis of combined culture of the (+) and (?) strains, in which zygospores are not formed.     

初级代谢产物和有性生殖促进剂对番茄红素发酵的影响

考察几种初级代谢中间产物对三孢布拉霉发酵生产番茄红素的影响,以及卵磷脂对三孢布拉霉正负菌接合孢子及发酵的影响。结果表明：发酵24h分别添加2．0％的柠檬酸和2．0％的三孢酸,番茄红素的产量分别达到0．99g／L和1．26g/L,比对照分别提高39．43％和32．63％;卵磷脂的添加能促进三孢布拉霉两性接合孢子的形成,进而促进番茄红素的合成,当大豆卵磷脂的添加量为0．3％时,番茄红素的产量为1．58g/L,比对照提高56．44％。