Effect of surfactants on beta-carotene production in blakeslea trispora

摘要

Span 20 at 10 g/l induced dispersed mycelial growth of Blakesles trispora, and significantly increased beta-carotene production to 2.16 g/l. Without surfactant only 0.15 g beta-carotent/l was produced. Other non-ionic surfactants composed of the same hydrophilic part as Span 20 and the hydrophobic fatty acids of Spans, including lauric acid (C_12), neither induced dispersed growth of the microorganism nor increased beta-carotene production. The marked increase of beta-carotene was closely related to the titer of trisporic acid, a strong stimulator of beta-carotene synthesis. With Span 20, the microorganism produced 15 times more trisporic acid (8.8 mg/g dry cell weight) than that without the surfactant (0.6 mg/g dry cell weight). Therefore, it was concluded that Span 20 considerably enhanced the production of trisporic acid and subsequently stimulated beta-carotene synthesis.