Exclusive formation of all-trans-phytoene by a colorless mutant of Halobacterium halobium.

A spontaneously occurring Halobacterium halobium mutant (strain W5002-1) was isolated which accumulated phytoene as the only C40 polyene. Its configuration was established as all-trans (7,8,11,12,7',8',11',12',-octahydro-psi,psi-carotene) by its chromatographic and spectral properties. Neither bacterioruberins (C50) nor retinal (C20) could be detected in this mutant strain. The biosynthetic pattern of isoprenoid compounds in this mutant strain confirms for the first time our conjecture that spontaneously arising H. halobium mutants can be isolated with defects in the carotenoid pathway and lends further support to our previous hypothesis suggesting all-trans-phytoene to be the precursor for more unsaturated carotenoids in halobacteria.