Antioxidant activity and identification of carotenoids produced by extremophile bacteria

• Grant number: 09/17781-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2010
• End date: April 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Science
• Principal Investigator: Adriana Zerlotti Mercadante
• Grantee: Adriana Zerlotti Mercadante
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos (FEA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The interest on carotenoids has considerably increased in the last years due to the known evidence of their benefits to the human health, related to their antioxidant, anticarcinogenic and immune modulation properties. The major industrial sources of carotenoids are chemical synthesis and extraction from plants and microalgae; however, there are few carotenoids whose production is economically feasible. Considering that extremophile microorganisms are important sources of bioactive compounds and that some extremophile bacteria produce carotenoids with different structural characteristics as compared with those from usual resources, the aims of the present project are: identify, through HPLC-DAD-MS/MS, the carotenoids produced by the bacteria Halococcus morrhuae (ATCC 17082) and Thermus filiformis (ATCC 43280) and to evaluate, applying factorial design, the influence of the composition of the culture medium and the growth conditions on the results of cell biomass, carotenoid production and protection against singlet oxygen. Furthermore, the free radical peroxyl (ROOÏ) scavenger activity of carotenoids produced by both bacteria will be evaluated in homogeneous system, and the antioxidant activity in organized system (liposomes) will be investigated with carotenoids produced by Thermus filiformis, considering that some thermophilic bacteria produce carotenoids with specific structure for membrane enhancement. (AU)