Construction of Astaxanthin Overproducing Strain of Phaffia rhodozyma by Protoplast Fusion

The availability of Phaffia rhodozyma as an astaxanthin sources in the aquaculture industry is limited because of the low carotenoid content of natural isolate. In this study, we have used the protoplast fusion technique to construct cell hybrids with an increased content of astaxanthin from P. rhodozyma. Cell hybrids (F307 and F406) obtained were very stable and produced considerably more astaxanthin (> 1 mg/g yeast) than the wild parent. Karyogamy was confirmed by the isolation of recombinants after mitotic segregation of parental auxotrophic genetic markers, the increased amount of chromosomal DNA/cell and the presence of single nucleus/cell.