High-Level Production of Astaxanthin by Fed-Batch Culture of Mutant Strain Phaffia rhodozyma AJ-6-1

The production of a carotenoid astaxanthin, a growth-associated principal pigment, is limited in a batch cultivation, because a high glucose concentration severely inhibits the cell growth and also influences the carotenoid production. Therefore, a fermentation strategy including effective chemicals for the high-level production of cells and astaxanthin by a mutant strain Phaffia rhodozyma AJ-6-1 was developed in a fed-batch culture. First, a production medium for maximizing the cell and astaxanthin yields was formulated and optimized. Using this optimized medium, the highest cell and astaxanthin concentrations obtained were about 38.25 g/1 and 34.77 mg/1, respectively. In addition, an attempt was made to increase the amount of astaxanthin using effective chemicals such as ethanol and acetic acid, which are known at an inducer and/or precursor of carotenoid synthesis. When either 10g/1 ethanol or 5 g/1 acetic acid was added to investigate the resulting astaxanthin content, a relatively high astaxanthin concentration or 45.62 mg/l and 43.87 mg/1, respectively, was obtained, and the cell concentrations also increased slightly under these conditions. Therefore, these results imply that a fed-batch culture of the mutant strain P. rhodozyma AJ-6-1 could be effectively employed in the commercial production of astaxanthin, although the factors affecting the productivity remain to be elucidated.