Deesterification of astaxanthin and intermediate esters from Haematococcus pluvialis subjected to stress

• Published in: Biotechnology reports (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Netherlands), 2019-09, Vol.23, p.e00351-e00351, Article e00351
• Main Authors: Galarza, Janeth I., Arredondo Vega, Bertha O., Villón, Jimmy, Henríquez, Vitalia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astaxanthin; Carotenoids; Deesterification; Enzymology; Saponification
• ISSN: 2215-017X; 2215-017X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.btre.2019.e00351

•This paper highlight the effect of enzymolysis and saponification deesterification processes of astaxanthin and its carotenoid precursors under high irradiance and nitrogen deprivation stress time conditions.•Carotenoid deesterification processes applied in this study, cholesterol esterase was shown to facilitate astaxanthin deesterification (975.65 μg mg−1 DW) while saponification positively affected zeaxanthin (1038.68 μg mg−1 DW).•Deesterified astaxanthin was shown to be always accompanied by precursors zeaxanthin, canthaxanthin, and β-carotene.•Progressively decreasing β-carotene concentrations from T0 to T6 samples sustains even more that this pigment is indeed the main precursor of the astaxanthin metabolic pathway. Haematococcus pluvialis is the richest biological source of astaxanthin under unfavorable growing conditions. Many reports have discussed the optimal astaxanthin extraction methods. Free-astaxanthin could be still hindered by microalgae extracts composition or by prolonged extraction times. In this study we evaluated the effect of enzymolysis and saponification deesterification processes of astaxanthin and its carotenoid precursors under high irradiance and nitrogen deprivation stress time conditions. Results showed that cholesterol esterase facilitated astaxanthin deesterification (975.65 μg mg−1 DW) while saponification positively affected zeaxanthin (1038.68 μg mg−1 DW).