Background: Astaxanthin is a carotenoid with strong antioxidant property. In addition, it has anti-cancer, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and many other functions. The micro-organisms that mainly produce astaxanthin are Haematococcus pluvialis and Phaffia rhodozyma. Compared with H. pluvialis, P. rhodozyma has shorter fermentation cycle and easier to control culture conditions, but the yield of astaxanthin in P. rhodozyma is low. This article studied how to improve the astaxanthin production of P. rhodozyma.
Results: The results showed that when 10 mL L-1 soybean oil was added to the culture medium, astaxanthin production increased significantly, reaching 7.35 mg L-1 , which was 1.4 times that of the control group, and lycopene and β-carotene contents also increased significantly. Through targeted metabolite analysis, the fatty acids in P. rhodozyma significantly increased under the soybean oil stimulation, especially the fatty acids closely related to the formation of astaxanthin esters, included palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1n9), linoleic acid (C18:2n6), α-linolenic acid (C18:3n3) and γ-linolenic acid (C18:3n6), thereby increasing the astaxanthin esters content.
Conclusion: It showed that the addition of soybean oil can promote the accumulation of astaxanthin by promoting the increase of astaxanthin ester content. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.
Keywords: Phaffia rhodozyma; astaxanthin; fatty acid; soybean oil.
© 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.