Microorganism and method for producing canthaxanthin
AssigneeTosoh Corporation
InventorsToru Tanaka, Teruhiko Ide
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Abstract
A carotenoid producing bacterium belonging to the genus Paracoccus that selectively produces canthaxanthin so that the amount thereof is not less than 90 percent by weight of the total amount of produced carotenoids including β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, echinenone, canthaxanthin, 3-hydroxyechinenone, 3′-hydroxyechinenone, zeaxanthin, phoenicoxanthin, adonixanthin, and astaxanthin. A method for producing canthaxanthin by culturing the above bacterium, and then collecting carotenoids from bacterial cells or a culture solution after the culturing.
Claims7
An isolated or purified mutant bacterium that produces canthaxanthin, wherein said mutant is produced by introducing mutation into a crtZ gene of an astaxanthin synthesizing bacterium, and said mutation inhibits the activity of the β-carotene hydroxylase compared to the β-carotene hydroxylase produced by the not mutated astaxanthin synthesizing bacterium;
- wherein the astaxanthin synthesizing bacterium is Paracoccus sp. strain TSTT052.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.