Carotenoids are a family of yellow to orange-red terpenoid pigments synthesized by photosynthetic organisms and many bacteria and fungi. They have beneficial health effects protecting against oxidative damage, and may be responsible for the colours associated with plants and animals.
In Microbial Carotenoids From Fungi: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers in the field detail many of the most up-to-date methods which are now commonly used to study carotenoids. These include methods for the manipulation and metabolic engineering of the Beta-carotene producing fungi Blakeslea trispora and Mucor circinelloides, lycopene production with the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica, peroxisome targeting of lycopene pathway enzymes in Pichia pastoris, and the manipulation of the heterobasidiomycetous yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous, which produces astaxanthin, a red xanthophyll with large importance in the aquaculture, pharmaceutical, and food industries.
Additionally, Microbial Carotenoids From Fungi: Methods and Protocols includes a DNA assembler method for construction of zeaxanthin-producing strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, production of neurosporaxanthin by Neurospora and Fusarium, and production of torularhodin, torulene and b-carotene by Rhodotorula yeasts. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.
Authoritative and practical, Microbial Carotenoids From Fungi: Methods and Protocols, provides practical experimental laboratory procedures for a wide range of carotenoids producing microorganisms.
1. Essential Role of Genetics in the Advancement of Biotechnology Arnold L. Demain and Jose L. Adrio
2. Microbial Carotenoids Preejith Vachali, Prakash Bhosale, and Paul S. Bernstein
3. Biosynthesis, Extraction, Purification and Analysis of Trisporoid Sexual Communication Compounds from Mated Cultures of Blakeslea trispora C. Schimek and J. Wostemeyer
4. Isolation of Mutants and Construction of Intersexual Heterokaryons of Blakeslea trispora Enrique Cerda-Olmedo and Bina J. Mehta
5. Molecular Tools for Carotenogenesis Analysis in the Zygomycete Mucor circinelloides Santiago Torres-Martinez, Rosa M. Ruiz-Vazquez, Victoriano Garre, Sergio Lopez-Garcia, Eusebio Navarro and Ana Vila
6. Gene Fusions for the Directed Modification of the Carotenoid Biosynthesis Pathway in Mucor circinelloides Enrique A. Iturriaga, Tamas Papp, Maria Isabel Alvarez, and Arturo P. Eslava
7. Integration of a Bacterial Beta-carotene Ketolase Gene into the Mucor circinelloides Genome by the Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated Transformation (ATMT) Method Tamas Papp, Arpad Csernetics, Ildiko Nyilasi, Csaba Vagvolgyi and Enrique A. Iturriaga
8. Metabolic Engineering of Mucor circinelloides for Zeaxanthin Production Marta Rodriguez-Saiz, Juan Luis de la Fuent, Jose Luis Barredo
9. Bioengineering of Oleaginous Yeast Yarrowia Lipolytica for Lycopene Production Rick W. Ye, Pamela L. Sharpe, and Quinn Zhu
10. Peroxisome Targeting of Lycopene Pathway Enzymes in Pichia pastoris Pyung Cheon Lee
11. Production, Extraction and Quantification of Astaxanthin by Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous or Haematococcus pluvialis: Standardized Techniques Dominguez-Bocanegra Alma R
12. Isolation and Selection of New Astaxanthin Producing Strains of Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous Diego Libkind, Martin Moline, and Celia Tognetti
13. Isolation and Characterization of Extrachromosomal double-stranded RNA Elements in Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous Marcelo Baeza, Maria Fernandez-Lobato, and Victor Cifuentes
14. Isolation of Carotenoid Hyperproducing Mutants of Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous (Phaffia rhodozyma) by Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Byron F. Brehm-Stecher and Eric A. Johnson
15. Generation of Astaxanthin Mutants in Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous using a Double Recombination Method Based on Hygromycin Resistance Mauricio Niklitschek, Marcelo Baeza, Maria Fernandez-Lobato and Victor Cifuentes
16. Genetic Manipulation of Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous and Phaffia rhodozyma Guangyun Lin, Joanna Bultman, Eric A. Johnson, and Jack W. Fell
17. DNA Assembler Method for Construction of Zeaxanthin-producing Strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Zengyi Shao, Yunzi Luo, and Huimin Zhao
18. Neurosporaxanthin Production by Neurospora and Fusarium Javier Avalos, Alfonso Prado-Cabrero, and Alejandro F. Estrada
19. Production of Torularhodin, Torulene and Beta-Carotene by Rhodotorula Yeasts Martin Moline, Diego Libkind, and Maria van Broock