Carotenoid Production by Halophilic Archaea Under Different Culture Conditions.

Carotenoids are pigments that may be used as colorants and antioxidants in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Since they also benefit human health, great efforts have been undertaken to search for natural sources of carotenoids, including microbial ones. The optimization of culture conditions to increase carotenoid yield is one of the strategies used to minimize the high cost of carotenoid production by microorganisms. Halophilic archaea are capable of producing carotenoids according to culture conditions. Their main carotenoid is bacterioruberin with 50 carbon atoms. In fact, the carotenoid has important biological functions since it acts as cell membrane reinforcement and it protects the microorganism against DNA damaging agents. Moreover, carotenoid extracts from halophilic archaea have shown high antioxidant capacity. Therefore, current review summarizes the effect of different culture conditions such as salt and carbon source concentrations in the medium, light incidence, and oxygen tension on carotenoid production by halophilic archaea and the strategies such as optimization methodology and two-stage cultivation already used to increase the carotenoid yield of these microorganisms.

Characterization of autochthonous wine yeasts isolated in vineyards of the State of Paraná, Brazil / Caracterização de leveduras vínicas autóctones isoladas em vinhedos do Estado do Paraná, Brasil

The transformation of grape must into wine is a complex microbiological process and is the product of the combined action of several genera and species of yeasts, dominated in the intermediate and final stages of fermentation by an alcohol-tolerant Saccharomyces sp. Current assay characterizes 42 autochthonous yeasts, isolated from the state of Paraná, southern Brazil, according to the following oenological properties: H2S production, fermentation rate, flocculation capacity, and killer phenotype (killer, sensitive and neutral characteristics). Current analysis is the first to evaluate killer phenotype in yeasts isolated from the State of Paraná, Brazil. With regard to their oenological traits, the yeasts evaluated were not suitable for winemaking and suggested that, depending on the harvest, the winemakers may face problems during the spontaneous wine production process.

A transformação do mosto de uva em vinho é um processo microbiológico complexo, resultado da ação combinada de diferentes gêneros e espécies de leveduras, no qual, entretanto, prevalece uma levedura, Saccharomyces sp. álcool-tolerante nos estágios intermediário e final da fermentação alcoólica. O objetivo deste trabalho foi caracterizar 42 leveduras autóctones isoladas da região sul do Brasil (Estado do Paraná) de acordo com as seguintes características enológicas: produção de H2S, taxa de fermentação, capacidade de floculação e fenótipo killer (características killer, sensível e neutra). Este estudo é o primeiro a avaliar fenótipo killer em leveduras isoladas do estado do Paraná. Com relação às características enológicas, as leveduras avaliadas não se mostraram promissoras para vinificação, sugerindo que, conforme a safra, o vinicultor pode enfrentar problemas durante o processo de fermentação espontânea das uvas para a elaboração de vinho.