Efficient screening for astaxanthin-overproducing mutants of the yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous by flow cytometry

摘要: Astaxanthin possesses higher antioxidant activity than other carotenoids and, for this and reasons, has great commercial potential use in the aquaculture, pharmaceutical, food industries. The basidiomycetous yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous is one of best natural producers astaxanthin, but wild-type cells accumulate only a small amount astaxanthin. In study, we developed an efficient flow cytometry method to screen astaxanthin-overproducing mutants X. dendrorhous. We first examined relationship between cellular astaxanthin content intensity fluorescence emitted from cell. Although emission maximum dissolved acetone occurred at 570 nm, intracellular correlated better with around 675 nm different strains. Using wavelength, screened mutagenized ethyl methanesulfonate successfully isolated that produced 1.5-3.8-fold more parent cells. This enabled us obtain overproducers five times conventional screening plate culture.