In our previous
study [21], an industrial wine yeast S. cerevisiae (T73-4) was
used to construct a recombinant yeast (T73-63) by the introduction
of carotenoid genes derived from Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous,
and the feasibility of producing -carotene by this recombinant
strain using real grape juice as a substrate was evaluated. Due to
resistance to the harsh condition of grape juice and highly active
metabolic flux in mevalonate pathway in the grape juice medium, specific -carotene content and production of the T73-63 strain
were significantly higher than those of recombinant yeast FY-09
derived from laboratory yeast FY1679-01B (EUROSCARF, Frankfurt,
Germany). This suggests that the industrial wine yeast was
a suitable candidate when this recombinant strain was utilized to
produce carotenoid (using grape juice as a substrate).