Abstract
Several fungal species, particularly some included in the Mucoromycotina, have been used to develop fermentation processes for the production of β-carotene. Oxygenated derivatives of β-carotene (xanthophylls) are desirable value-added products, and the preference by the market of carotenoids from biological sources has increased the research in different carotenoid-producing organisms. We currently use Mucor circinelloides f. lusitanicus as a model organism to develop strains with an increased content of new and more valuable carotenoids. The main carotenoid accumulated by M. circinelloides is β-carotene, although it has some hydroxylase activity and produces low amounts of zeaxanthin. On the other hand, in astaxanthin-producing organisms two enzymatic activities are required for the production of astaxanthin from β-carotene: a hydroxylase and a ketolase. In this chapter, we delineate part of our efforts to construct genetically modified strains that could advance in the improvement of carotenoid accumulation by this fungus and the diversification of its carotenoid content. Accordingly, we describe detailed and empirically tested protocols for the construction of functional expression vectors and gene fusions.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by different grants of the Junta de Castilla y León (Spain) (GR64) and the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund and the National Office for Research and Technology (OTKA CK80188).
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Iturriaga, E.A., Alvarez, M.I., Eslava, A.P., Papp, T. (2018). Expression Vectors and Gene Fusions for the Directed Modification of the Carotenoid Biosynthesis Pathway in Mucor circinelloides. In: Barreiro, C., Barredo, JL. (eds) Microbial Carotenoids. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1852. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8742-9_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8742-9_14
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