Rapid and Selective Screening Method for Isolation and Identification of Carotenoid-Producing Bacteria

Carotenoids are naturally occurring yellow to red pigments with many biological activities including antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, membrane stabilizers, and precursors for vitamin A. These biological activities are linked with many health benefits (e.g., anticarcinogenic activity, prevention of chronic diseases, etc.), which grew the interest of several industrial sectors especially in food, feed, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. The production of natural carotenoids from microbial sources such as bacteria can help meet the growing global market of carotenoids estimated at $1.5 billion in 2014 and is expected to reach 1.8 billion in 2019. This chapter demonstrates, step-by-step, the development of a rapid and selective screening method for isolation and identification of carotenoid-producing microorganisms and their carotenoid analysis. This method involves three main procedures: UV treatment, sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA genes, and carotenoids analysis using rapid and effective HPLC-diode array-MS methods.