Studying carotenoid synthesis in fungi
The majority of carotenoids that are currently used are produced either by chemical or biological means, given that animals and humans cannot synthesise them. Recently, the biological methods are being favoured over their chemical counterparts and Blakeslea along with Xanthophyllomyces fungal species are mainly used for bulk carotenoid production. The EC-funded FUNGAL CAROTENOIDS project focused on genetically enhancing the carotenoid yields produced by the different fungal species therefore simplifying their application. Project partners developed methodologies set to improve carotenogenesis by fungal species. These methods exploited environmental and genetic variants. Scientists noted that the mating of plus and minus strains resulted in upregulation of carotenoid synthesis and a number of mutant strains showed significant yield increases in comparison to the wild type. In terms of physiological conditions, low light intensity as well as reduced oxygen supply was found to result in increased total carotenoid formation. In fact their combination resulted in a 4-fold total carotenoid increase. It is therefore easily derived that environmental conditions do have a role to play and further investigation of the series of factors involved in carotenoid synthesis is warranted.
