Barreiro Carlos, Barredo José-Luis
Instituto de Biotecnología de León (INBIOTEC), Parque Científico de León, León, Spain.
Area of Microbiology, School of Health Studies, Campus de Ponferrada, University of León, Ponferrada, Spain.
Methods Mol Biol. 2018;1852:45-55. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8742-9_2.
Carotenoids relevance as natural pigments is mainly due to their uses as colorants, feed supplements, nutraceuticals and for medical, cosmetic, and biotechnological purposes. Since they have putative health beneficial effects, the demand and market of carotenoids are growing significantly. There is a diversity of natural and synthetic carotenoids, but only a few of them are commercially produced, including carotenes (β-carotene and lycopene) and xanthophylls (astaxanthin, canthaxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, and capsanthin). Some biotechnological processes for carotenoids production were established some years ago, but new strains and technologies are being developed nowadays for carotenoids widely in demand. This chapter shows a revision of the main carotenoids from a commercial point of view.
类胡萝卜素作为天然色素的相关性主要源于它们用作着色剂、饲料添加剂、营养保健品以及用于医学、化妆品和生物技术目的。由于它们具有假定的健康有益作用，类胡萝卜素的需求和市场正在显著增长。天然和合成类胡萝卜素种类繁多，但只有少数几种是商业化生产的，包括胡萝卜素（β-胡萝卜素和番茄红素）和叶黄素（虾青素、角黄素、叶黄素、玉米黄质和辣椒红素）。一些年前就建立了生产类胡萝卜素的生物技术工艺，但如今正在开发新的菌株和技术以生产广泛需求的类胡萝卜素。本章从商业角度对主要类胡萝卜素进行了综述。
