Analysis of canthaxanthin production by Gordonia jacobaea

Commercial interest in the use of natural pigments isolated from microorganisms has increased in recent years; hence, molecules belonging to the polyisoprenoid group (i.e., β-carotene, astaxanthin, and canthaxanthin) have been the focus of much attention. The bacterium Gordonia jacobaea readily synthesizes and accumulates large amounts of canthaxanthin (β-β'-carotene-4,4'-dione), which is widely used in the food and cosmetics industries. In the present work, the integral process of canthaxanthin production by G. jacobaea is analyzed together with its application as natural sources for the industry. A great influence of culture media is observed on canthaxanthin levels. Also, the ability is found of extract the pigments with ethanol from bacteria. The concentration of the samples is a crucial point of the process, being mandatory to discard any process of heating the samples, because this provoked the pigment degradation. Despite this, the described method allows to consider G. jacobaea as a potential canthaxanthin producer for the industry.