The Production of Carotenoid Pigments from Mineral Oil by Bacteria

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Abstract
A strain of Mycobacterium lacticola isolated from mud in contact with crude oil was found to produce carotenoid pigments when cultured in a mineral-salts medium with mineral oil as the sole organic substrate. Analysis of the pigmented oil medium revealed the presence of 4 carotenoid pigments. Three were carotene pigments having spectrographic properties similar to that of [beta]-carotene but different degrees of chromatographic behavior and vitamin A activity. One of the pigments may be identified as [beta]-carotene.; the other 2 could not be identified, and are probably isomers of [beta]-carotene. A 4th pigment possessed chem. and spectrographic properties of astacin, an acidic carotenoid found primarily in crustaceans and hitherto never before associated with carotenoids of Mycobacterium spp. Prolonged incubation effected spectrometric and quantitative changes in the pigmentation of mineral oil cultures. The quantity of carotene pigments decreased while the amt. of astacin increased. The production of oil-soluble pigments such as carotenoids and their derivatives by hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria, as noted in this study, may be of practical significance in view of the fact that one of the problems of the petroleum industry is the prevention of "off-colors" in water-white petroleum products during storage. The organism described in this paper produced approx. 2.14 mg. of carotenoid pigments (calculated as [beta]-carotene) in 500 ml. of oil within 2 weeks. This suggests the possibility that the slight yellowish "off-colors" commonly observed in petroleum products during storage may in part be of microbial origin. This speculation has added significance when one considers that the bacterial content of water commonly present at the bottom of large storage tanks has been found to be high (Haas, Yantze and Bushneil, 1941).