Sreenivasa Reddy Puniredd, Xiaohui Lim, Melanie Weingarten, and Xixian Chen. (2025). Supercritical Carbon Dioxide-Assisted Recovery of Endotoxin-Free Lycopene from Escherichia coli. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Article ASAP. DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c09227
Abstract:
Biotechnological production of lycopene from renewable sources has advanced significantly. However, the downstream process is often overlooked. Being an intracellular molecule, hardly soluble in solvents, and highly prone to oxidative degradation, lycopene is difficult to purify from fermentation broth. Moreover, there could be contamination from endotoxins from the production host. In this article, we established a green and efficient workflow for extracting lycopene from Escherichia coli. We first genetically modified our E. coli strains and successfully achieved over a 99% reduction in endotoxin levels. Next, we explored a two-step, one-pot method using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) as a green solvent to dry the E. coli wet biomass and extract lycopene. Up to 99% of lycopene was successfully recovered. Interestingly, we uncovered an inverse correlation between endotoxin levels and the lycopene concentration in two fractions. This observation suggests the potential of scCO2 to separate endotoxins from the extracted lycopene effectively. These discoveries warrant future investigations in the realms of bioprocessing and extraction methodologies.
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Funding Info:
This research / project is supported by the National Research Foundation, Singapore, and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) - Singapore Food Story R&D Programme Theme 2 - Industry Alignment Fund - Pre-Positioning Cycle 2 on Advanced Biotech-Based Protein Production Programme
Grant Reference no. : A21H7a0132
This research / project is supported by the National Research Foundation, Singapore, and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) - Singapore Food Story R&D Programme Theme 2: Future Foods – Whitespace Programme for Shared Lab Facilities
Grant Reference no. : W22W2D0001
This research / project is supported by the National Research Foundation, Singapore, and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) - Singapore Food Story (SFS) R&D Programme 1.0 Theme 2 Future Foods: Shared Lab Facilities Whitespace Funding
Grant Reference no. : W23W2D0012
This research / project is supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Singapore Institute Food & Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI) - Central Funds, Council Strategic Funds, BMRC programmes
Grant Reference no. : C210314014 and C210314016