Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Light-Controlled Fermentations for Microbial Chemical and Protein Production
Published on: March 22, 2022
Carotenoid production in Lactobacillus plantarum
Juan Garrido-Fernández1, Antonio Maldonado-Barragán, Belén Caballero-Guerrero
1Departamento de Biotecnología de Alimentos, Instituto de la Grasa, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda. Padre García Tejero, 4; Aptdo. 1078; 41012 Seville, Spain.
Abstract:
Eighteen strains of Lactobacillus plantarum from different origins were screened for carotenoid production, as many of them exhibited a deep yellow pigmentation when cultured as isolated colonies on MRS-agar plates. We found that most of them produced significative amounts of the yellow C(30) carotenoid 4,4'-diaponeurosporene in the range 1.8 to 54 mg/kg of dry cell weight. Although some of the strains produced just trace amounts of this carotenoid, PCR studies showed that all of them harbored the genes crtM and crtN which, inferred from homology, had been predicted in the three L. plantarum complete genome sequences currently available. Our results suggest the full functionality of a C(30) carotenoid biosynthesis pathway in this species, driven by the operon crtNM. DNA sequencing of the entire crtNM operon in the maximum carotenoid-producing strain found in this study, i.e. L. plantarum CECT7531, was accomplished. Genes crtM and crtN were annotated as dehydrosqualene synthase and dehydrosqualene desaturase, respectively, in this strain.
Related Concept Videos
Production of Organic Acids
Microbes in the Production of Fermented Foods
Production of Antibiotics
Transgenic Plants
The first-ever transgenic plant was a tobacco plant developed in 1983 that showed resistance against the tobacco mosaic virus. Since then, many transgenic plants have been developed and commercialized for improving the agricultural, ornamental, and horticultural value of a crop plant. Transgenic...
Microbes in Food Production
Prokaryotic Transcriptional Activators and Repressors
Transcription of prokaryotic...
