Characterization of lycopene β-cyclase from Dunaliella bardawil for enhanced β-carotene production and salt tolerance

Dunaliella can accumulate more β-carotene (10 % or even more of the dry weight of cells) than any other species. Lycopene β-cyclase (LcyB) is the key enzyme in the catalysis of lycopene to β-carotene. In the present research, we used Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) as host to construct two different types of engineering bacteria, one expressing the D. bardawil LcyB and the other expressing the orthologue Erwinia uredovora crtY. The catalytic ability of LcyB and CrtY were evaluated by comparing the β-carotene yields of the two E. coli BL21(DE3) strains, whose salt tolerance was simultaneously compared by cultivated them under different NaCl concentrations (1 %, 2 %, and 4 %). We also interfered with the LcyB gene to investigate the effect of LcyB in D. bardawil. Results displayed that the β-carotene yield of the LcyB-transformant significantly increased by about 48 % compared with the crtY-transformant. Additionally, LcyB was verified to be able to enhance the salt tolerance of E. coli BL21 (DE3). It is concluded that D. bardawil LcyB not only has better catalytic ability but also is able to confer salt tolerance to cells. Interfering D. bardawil LcyB induced the low expression of LcyB and the changes of growth and carotenoids metabolism in D. bardawil.