Carotenoid production in Bacillus subtilis achieved by metabolic engineering.

The carotenoid synthetic genes, crtM and crtN, derived from Staphylococcus aureus, were introduced into B. subtilis, resulting in yellow pigmentation. Absorption maxima of pigments and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry demonstrated that the pigmented strain accumulated two C(30) carotenoids, 4,4'-diapolycopene and 4,4'-diaponeurosporene. A survival test using H(2)O(2) revealed that the pigmented strain was more resistant to oxidative stress than the strain harboring an empty-vector. These findings indicate that B. subtilis can produce carotenoids, and the strain accumulating the carotenoids, CarotenoBacillus, will become a basal host for production of C(30) carotenoids and evaluation of their antioxidative effects.