总结: | Carotenoids are fat-soluble bioactive compounds found in plants, animals, and microorganisms, which have a range of health benefits and great technological and industrial importance in the fields of pharmaceuticals, food, and biotechnology. Yeasts of the genus <i>Rhodotorula</i> can biosynthesize large amounts of carotenoids under environmental stress conditions, and this process may become industrially feasible if production costs are minimized using low-cost by-products as nutrient sources. As cassava roots are produced and consumed in large quantities in the Amazon biome, our research aimed to investigate the best cultivation conditions in a benchtop bioreactor for the biotechnological production of carotenoids by <i>R. glutinis</i> using manipueira as a low-cost substrate. Manipueira is wastewater generated during cassava flour production, and it was concentrated at 12 °Brix for this study. In addition, the carotenoid composition, at the best cultivation condition, was analyzed by LC-MS. Higher carotenoid contents (1410 μg/g of dried biomass) than described in the literature, and biomass (10 g), were produced by <i>R. glutinis</i> using concentrated manipueira as a low-cost substrate after cultivation at pH 5, 35 °C and agitation at 150 rpm. At the best cultivation conditions, β-carotene, lutein, and 5,8-epoxy-lutein were the major carotenoids, with the latter two compounds being identified for the first time in the biomass of <i>R. glutinis</i>. Therefore, concentrated manipueira can be seen as a feasible alternative and low-cost substrate to be used for the biotechnological production of high carotenoid contents by <i>R. glutinis</i>.
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