Producing β-Carotene By Fermentation

3 -carotene is one of the important caronenoids. It is found primarily in the all-trans configuration in the nature, which has 11 conjugated carbon-carbon double bonds. -carotene has predominantly functions of quenching singlet oxygen, scavenging of free radicals and inducing the communication between cells, so it could act great roles on preventing cancer and atherosclerosis. At the same time, the producing technologies, especially fermentation, have been studied.Fermentation is one of potential methods for producing -carotene industrially by Blakeslea trispora . The culture medium, the mutagenesis, the conditions of fermentation, the choices of accretion, the influence of mycelial morphology and the extraction of -carotene have been investigated,The results showed that the best basal medium was listed as fellow: glucose 10g/L, corn starch30g/L, corn steep liquor60g/L, potassium dihydrogen phosphate 0.5g/L, magnesium sulfate0.25g/L and thiamine hydrochloride0.5mg/L. The optimized fermentation mediums was corn starch30g/L, glucose10g/L , soybean power 10 g/L, Soybean Protein Powder 20 g/L corn steep liquor20g/L, cottonseed oil 50ml/L, potassium dihydrogen phosphate 1g/L, magnesium sulfate0.25g/L and thiaminehydrochloride 0.5mg/L.The yield of P -carotene was up to 8 times through the fermentation by mutants which was attained through physical and chemical methods. The flask cultures were incubated at 28 癈 for 120h under the condition of pH6.7, 250rpm, column of incubation 20%, and the ratio between plus and minus 1:10.The yield of P -carotene could reach 2.4 times when adding P -ionone, isonicotinoylhydrazine and succinmideas the inductors of the biosynthesis of 3 -carotene. The modulator could make different effect on fermentation, kerosene and triton-XlOO has little effect on fermentation, but span-20 and J3 -ionone could enhance the productivity of J3 -carotene, significantly. The content of 3 -carotene in the medium reach 2~3 times of the control experiments by adding Ig/L span-20.The effect of the mycelial morphology on producing 3 -carotene of Blakeslea tripora was also investigated. The results indicated that: The high rotate speed and corn starch is advantageous to the fermentation. The pellets has little role on fermentation when adding kerosene and triton-x100, However, The content of J3 -carotene in the medium could enhance 3 times of the control experiments by adding Ig/L span-20, forming dispersed mycelia with optimizing various external factors at the macroscopic.