Investigação da produção de carotenoides utilizando a levedura Rhodotorula mucilaginosa e resíduos agroindustriais

Abstract

Yeasts are alternative sources of natural carotenoids, a group of terpenoids with various applications on the market such as the food industry, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and feed. In addition to its coloring, the group has an important biological activity. It also acts in vitamin A biosynthesis and important health benefits such as strengthening the immune system and decreased risk of degenerative diseases. Carotenoid production by yeast fermentation technology is very effective and proposes considerable benefits with large -scale, economy and safety production. The carotenoid production market has grown, however Brazil has not taken advantage of the full potential of its ecosystem in the production of natural carotenoids, as artificial dyes are still allowed in Brazil. In this work, agroindustrial waste was opted for decreased production cost. The production of β-carotene was performed on a small scale of cultivation with banana, tucumã and passion fruit seeds. For b-carotene

identification in the samples, mass espctrometry (MS) was used with the atmospheric- pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source. Thus, the objective of the work was to

investigate the possibility of using R. mucilaginosa yeast for the production of carotenoids from abundant and cheap agroindustrial waste. However, the production of fatty acids already presented by the literature such as palmitic acid, oleic acid and dodecanoic acid occurred. Thus, it is inferred that the time used was not sufficient for the production of secondary metabolites.