Astaxanthin shows multiple biological activities, but it is usually linked to different fatty acids and exists in the form of esters. The complexity of astaxanthin esters limits their application in the preparation of sophisticated drugs. Herein, a novel lipase from Streptomyces bacillaris that could hydrolyze astaxanthin esters, named OUC-Sb-lip12, was expressed in Bacillus subtilis. The active site of OUC-Sb-lip12 is probably composed of a dyad of Ser48 and His254, instead of a typical catalytic triad. The lipase was identified to be a GDSL hydrolase, and it showed highest activity at 45 °C and pH 9.0 (glycine-NaOH buffer). OUC-Sb-lip12 showed a good stability at its optimum temperature or a higher temperature, retaining 88.4 % and 80.6 % of its activity after incubation for 36 h at 45 °C and 55 °C, respectively. OUC-Sb-lip12 could effectively hydrolyze astaxanthin esters in Haematococcus pluvialis oil, generating free astaxanthin. Under the optimum conditions, 96.29 % astaxanthin esters were hydrolyzed in 12 h. In addition, B.subtilis is a GRAS model strain and it could efficiently secrete lipase in 9 h, making the lipase potential for scale production of free astaxanthin, which could be further used in the preparation of specific astaxanthin esters with specific functions.

虾青素显示出多种生物活性，但通常与不同的脂肪酸相连，并以酯的形式存在。虾青素酯的复杂性限制了它们在复杂药物制备中的应用。在这里，从一个新的脂肪链bacillaris可能水解虾青素酯，中央电大评为-SB-lip12，在表达枯草芽孢杆菌. OUC-Sb-lip12 的活性位点可能由 Ser48 和 His254 的二元组组成，而不是典型的催化三元组。该脂肪酶被鉴定为 GDSL 水解酶，在 45 °C 和 pH 9.0（甘氨酸-NaOH 缓冲液）时显示出最高活性。OUC-Sb-lip12 在其最适温度或更高温度下表现出良好的稳定性，在 45°C 和 55°C 下孵育 36 h 后分别保持其活性的 88.4% 和 80.6%。OUC-Sb-lip12可有效水解雨生红球藻油中的虾青素酯，产生游离虾青素。在最佳条件下，96.29%的虾青素酯在12小时内水解。此外，枯草 是GRAS模型菌株，可在9小时内高效分泌脂肪酶，使该脂肪酶具有规模化生产游离虾青素的潜力，可进一步用于制备具有特定功能的特定虾青素酯。