中国生物工程杂志

The antioxidant activity of lycopene is highest among the current carotenoids. Recently the researches on lycopene are focused on ingredient of functional foods in the world. In this study, the fermentation production of lycopene by Streptomyces rimosus was reported first time in China. The determination methods, such as spectrophotometric method and HPLC were constructed. Using a stain Fc of Streptomyces rimosus as a original strain, a high-yield lycopene producing mutant strain Fc’ was selected after UV mutation. The lycopene yield of the strain is 2.5 times higher than the original strain Fc. The optimal fermentation conditions were determined by flask experiments, and the lycopene yield of strain Fc’ reached 230mg/L in flask under the optimal fermentation condition，meanwhile the Streptomyces rimosus strain could produce purer lycopene without adding any blocking agents in its fermentation process. Our results lay a good foundation for lycopene commercial production by fermentation using Streptomyces rimosus .