• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.355-359
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• 2016

During a survey of fungal diversity in insect guts in Korea, two fungal strains, EML-PGH2 and EML-PUKI88, were isolated from the gut of grasshopper and soldier fly larvae inhabiting the bulrush plants at a pond located in the Chonnam National University Arboretum, Gwangju, Korea. Based on their morphological characteristics and a phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1 and ITS2) and 5.8S rDNA sequences, the strains were identified as Blakeslea trispora. To our knowledge, the zygomycete species B. trispora has not been previously described in Korea.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.548-553
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• 1999

A production of $\beta-Carotene$was attempted in a fed-batch culture of Blakeslea trispora by controlling both foam and dissolved oxygen in the presence of surfactant, Span 20. Results obtained from the shake flask cultures indicated that a high concentration of dissolved oxygen was needed for both cell growth and $\beta-Carotene$ synthesis, and the optimal concentration of glucose was found to be in the range of 50-100 g/l. In order to maintain the dissolved oxygen concentration level at higher than 50% of air saturation, pure oxygen was automatically sparged into the medium with air. Foam was controlled by bypassing air from the submerged aeration to the headspace in response to the foam that was caused by Span 20. High agitation speed was found to be detrimental to the cell growth due to shear damage, even though it provided sufficient dissolved oxygen. On the other hand, a low aeration speed caused stagnant regions in the fermentor because of improper mixing. Thus, for the fed-batch operation, agitation speed was increased gradually from 300 to 700 rpm to prevent cell damage at the initial stage of fermentation and to give efficient mixing for a viscous culture broth as the culture proceeded. By controlling dissolved oxygen and foam, a high concentration of $\beta-Carotene$otene (1,190 mg/l) was obtained in 6 days of the fed-batch culture of B. trispora with 2.5% of the dry cell weight, which was approximately 5 times higher than that of the batch cultures.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.263-274
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• 2000

Carotenoids are widely distributed natural pigments which are in an increasing demand by the market, due to their applicatins in the human food, animal feed, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. Although more than 600 carotenoids have been identified in nature, only a few are industrially important (${\beta}$-carotene, astaxanthin, lutein or lycopene). To date chemical processes manufacture most of the carotenoid production, but the interest for carotenoids of biological origin is growing since theire is an increased public concern over the safety of artificial food colorants. Although much interest and effort has been devoted to the use of biological sources for industrially important carotenoids, only the production of biological ${\beta}$-carotene and astaxanthin has been reported. Among fungi, several Mucorales strains, particularly Blakeslea trispora, have been used to develop fermentation processes for the production of ${\beta}$-carotene on almost competitive cost-price levels. Similarly, the basidiomycetous yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous (the perfect state of Phaffia rhodozyma), has been proposed as a promising source of astaxanthin. This paper focuses on recent findings on the fungal pathways for carotenoid production, especially the structure and function of the genes involved in the biosynthesis of carotenoids in the Mucorales. An outlook of the possibilities of an increased industrial production of carotenoids, based on metabolic engineering of fungi for carotenoid content and composition, is also discussed.