Carotenoid composition of yeasts of the genera Rhodotorula, Rhodosporidium, Sporobolomyces and Sporidiobolus

BUZZINI, P; INNOCENTI, M; TURCHETI, B; LIBKIND FRATI, D; VAN BROOCK, MR; MARTINI, A; MULINACCI, N

Firenze, Italia

Congreso; 53rd Annual Congress of the Society for Medicinal Plant Research and the Italian Society of Phytochemistry; 2005

Twenty yeast strains, each one representing a given species of the genera Rhodotorula, Rhodosporidium, Sporobolomyces, and Sporidiobolus, were investigated with the objective of evaluating their carotenoid composition. The pigments were extracted from yeast cells, quantified by HPLC-DAD and identified by APCI–MS techniques. Thirteen strains were seen to be able to produce carotenoids, from 16.5 to 184 mg g-1 cell DW and from 16.4 to 1993.4 mg l-1 culture, respectively. Some significantly (P < 0.01) differences have been observed. The main carotenoids produced were identified as b-carotene, g-carotene, torulene, torularhodin, plectaniaxanthin-like and 2-hydroxy-plectaniaxanthin-like. Some minor unidentified carotenoids were also sporadically detected. The correlation matrix calculated on the basis of the carotenoid composition data matrix indicated significant (P < 0.01) relationships between torulene and torularhodin (r = 0.81), g-carotene and torulene (r = 0.49), b-carotene and torulene (r = - 0.72), b-carotene and g-carotene (r = 0.64), as well as plectaniaxanthin-like and 2-hydroxy-plectaniaxanthin-like (r = 0.96). This study represents the first investigation on carotenoid composition of species of the genera Rhodotorula, Rhodosporidium, Sporobolomyces, and Sporidiobolus under the same experimental conditions.