Method for the production of ª‰-carotene and other closely related carotenes

摘要

b -Carotene and other closely related carotenes are obtained with the aid of micro-organisms of the order Mucorales in a process characterised in that opposite mating types of the same or entirely different genera are grown simultaneously in a liquid medium which contains a source of assimilable carbon, a source of assimilable nitrogen, a source of thiamine and mineral substances and further a stimulating substance or substances comprising b -ionone and/or an assimilable lipid and/or a surface -active agent, and that the cultures are incubated under submerged aerobic conditions at a temperature varying between 20 and 35 DEG C. the initial pH of the fermentation being in the range of 5,0 to 7,0, preferably between 5,5 and 7,0. Suitable organisms are those of the genera Mucor, Blakeslea, Choanephora, Phycomyces and Parasitella, such as Mucor hiemalis, Blakeslea trispora, Blakeslea circinans, Choanephora conjuncta, Choanephora cucurbitarum, Phycomyces blakesleanus, Pilaira anomala and Parasitella simplex. Carbohydrates can be used in the form of glucose, sucrose or other sugar, or in the form of unpurified carbohydrates e.g. potatoes, cane and beet molasses and starch. Sources of assimilable nitrogen may take the form of soybean meal, corn steep liquor, fermentation residues, grain by-products, urea, nitrates, ammonium salts, asparigine, corn, wheat or soybeans. Other stimulating substances comprise B-ionone, and soybean oil, cotton seed oil, peanutoil, lard oil, alkyl aryl polyether alcohols and compounds of fatty acids and sorbitol. In the examples experiments are effected to indicate the optimum conditions for the production of b -carotene. Hence various nutrients and microorganisms are employed therein.