ABSTRACT
Sugar cane juice, an abundant agricultural product in Brazil, was investigated as the main substrate for the culture of Rhodotorula rubra and R. glutinis. In order to evaluate yeast growth and carotenoid production, an experimental factorial design (24−1) was used for the following variables: sugar concentration in the sugar cane juice, yeast extract concentration, absence or presence of peptone and absence or supplementation with a solution of inorganic salts. In all experiments, the major carotenoids were quantified by HPLC, these being torularhodin, torulene, β-carotene and γ-carotene in different proportions depending on the medium composition. In general, greater carotenoid production was accomplished by lower cell growth. The maximum productivity obtained, as total carotenoid per g of dry mass, was 427 µg for R. rubra and 197 µg for R. glutinis.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank the Brazilian Funding Agencies CAPES and CNPq.