Metabolic roles of carotenoid produced by non-photosynthetic bacterium Gordonia alkanivorans SKF120101.

Carotenoids produced by non-photosynthetic bacteria protect organisms against lethal photodynamic reactions and scavenge oxygenic radicals. However, the carotenoid produced by Gordonia alkanivorans SKF120101 is coupled to reducing power generation. SKF120101 selectively produces carotenoid under light conditions. The growth yield of SKF120101 cultivated under light conditions was higher than that under dark condition. In the cyclic voltammetry, both upper and lower voltammograms for neutral red (NR) immobilized in intact cells of SKF120101 were not shifted in the condition without external redox sources but were commonly shifted downward by glucose addition and light. Electric current generation in a biofuel cell system (BFCS) catalyzed by harvested cells of SKF120101 was higher under light than dark condition. The ratio of electricity generation to glucose consumption by SKF120101 cultivated in BFCS was higher under light than dark condition. The carotenoid produced by SKF120101 catalyzes production of reducing power from light energy, first evaluated by the electrochemical technique used in this research.