| Lycopene plays an important role in the human diet, and its antioxidants and cancer preventive properties have been proved. In most cases of described fermentation for the production of lycopene, the product has been a mixture of carotenes including alpha, beta and gamma carotene. However, a fermentation process for obtaining lycopene as the major product was recently developed in our laboratories.2-(4-methylphenoxy)-triethylamine (MPTA) belongs to the group of substituted triethylamines that have a number of effects including inhibition of lycopene cyclases. Treatment of3.6mmol/L MPTA significantly reduced the levels of P-carotene (up to23-fold) in Blakealea trispora which was accompanied by the accumulation of lycopene (159mg/L). Carotenoid analysis showed that lycopene was the principal carotenoid, constituting96%of the total carotenoids, which was only71%with tobacco treatment. Consequently, MPTA was functional and potentially useable to accumulate and increase lycopene production in Blakeslea trispora. The concentration of its byproduct ergosterol was promoted to974mg/L in the fermentation by MPTA-treatment. Moreover, cultivation time was reduced to96h compared with the results from which was treated with tobacco-dust. There was a great increase in lycopene production of B. trispora by the treatment with compound (10g/L tobacco and2.2mmol/L MPTA) that the content of lycopene could reach205mg/L (94%of the total carotenoids).RP-HPLC was used to separate lycopene from dry cells. The proportion of liquid system (acetonitrile:methylene chloride=85:15, v/v) and the detect wavelength (450nm) were determined. The purity of lycopene and an oxide of y-carotene obtained by RP-HPLC was97%and93%, respectively. The purification for fermentation product lycopene in industry scale was determined operating with ethanol extraction, dryness, ethanol extraction, ethyl acetate extraction, concentration and recrystallization. |
PDF Full Text Request