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Enhanced Production of Astaxanthin without Decrease of DHA Content in Aurantiochytrium limacinum by Overexpressing Multifunctional Carotenoid Synthase Gene

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Abstract

Aurantiochytrium limacinum produces both docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and astaxanthin, respectively. Organisms that produce these industrially important materials more efficiently than microalgae are currently needed. In this study, we overexpressed a putative homolog of CarS, which is involved in synthesizing the astaxanthin precursor, β-carotene, in A. limacinum to increase carotenoid synthesis with the goal of obtaining strains that produce large amounts of both DHA and carotenoids. AlCarS transformants #1 and #18 produced significantly increased amounts of astaxanthin as assessed according to culture (up to 5.8-fold) and optical density (up to 9.3-fold). The improved astaxanthin production of these strains did not affect their DHA productivity. Additionally, their CarS expression levels were higher than those of the wild-type strain, suggesting that CarS overexpression enhanced β-carotene production, which in turn improved astaxanthin productivity. Although cell yields were slightly decreased, these features will be valuable in health food, medical care, and animal feed fields.

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Acknowledgments

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan

    Yuki Kubo, Mai Shiroi, Tokuhiro Higashine, Yuki Mori, Daichi Morimoto, Satoshi Nakagawa & Shigeki Sawayama

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  1. Yuki Kubo
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  2. Mai Shiroi
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  3. Tokuhiro Higashine
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  4. Yuki Mori
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  5. Daichi Morimoto
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  7. Shigeki Sawayama
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Contributions

Yuki Kubo: investigation, methodology, writing—original draft. Mai Shiroi: investigation, methodology. Tokuhiro Higashine: methodology. Yuki Mori: methodology. Daichi Morimoto: investigation, writing—original draft, review, and editing. Satoshi Nakagawa: methodology, supervision. Shigeki Sawayama: conceptualization, supervision, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Daichi Morimoto.

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Kubo, Y., Shiroi, M., Higashine, T. et al. Enhanced Production of Astaxanthin without Decrease of DHA Content in Aurantiochytrium limacinum by Overexpressing Multifunctional Carotenoid Synthase Gene. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 193, 52–64 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-020-03403-w

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