The present invention relates to novel hydroxylases, nucleic acid sequences coding therefore, expression constructs and vectors comprising these sequences, microorganisms transformed therewith, processes for the microbiological hydroxylation of isoprenoids, for example processes for converting beta-carotene into beta-cryptoxanthin and zeaxanthin, or canthaxanthin into astaxanthin.

Provided herein are recombinant cells (e.g., recombinant bacteria or plant, insect, mammalian, and yeast cells) containing a nucleic acid encoding a CYP97A protein or a nucleic acid encoding a CYP97B protein; a nucleic acid encoding a CYP97C protein; a nucleic acid encoding a geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase protein; a nucleic acid encoding a phytoene synthase protein; a nucleic acid encoding a phytoene desaturase protein; a nucleic acid encoding a lycopene -cyclase protein; and a nucleic acid encoding a lycopene -cyclase protein. Also provided are methods of producing lutein that include culturing these recombinant cells (e.g., recombinant bacteria and yeast cells), and methods of generating these recombinant cells (e.g., recombinant bacteria and yeast cells). Also provided is lutein produced by these methods, and pharmaceutical compositions, food supplements, food products, and cosmetic compositions that contain lutein produced by these methods.

Provided is a mutant having an ability to overproduce carotenoids and a method for producing carotenoids by using the mutant. The mutant, of which mutations are induced by irradiation after being transformed with a recombinant vector according to the subject matter, has an excellent ability to produce carotenoids and can be mass-produced, and thus can be useful in various industrial fields, which use carotenoids, such as cosmetics, food, and feed.

The present invention relates to compositions and methods of producing xanthophylls in microorganisms.

A cell-free system is provided to produce -cryptoxanthin and zeaxanthin from -carotene. -carotene is added to a reaction mixture comprising a -carotene hydroxylase enzyme (CrtZ). The reaction mixture may be aqueous and may comprise a co-solvent, e.g., an organic co-solvent, such as THF.

A plurality of isolated polynucleotide sequences encoding enzymes of the astaxanthin pathway is disclosed. The polynucleotides include: (i) a polynucleotide which encodes Phytoene dehydrogenase (crtI) and a first transcriptional regulatory sequence; (ii) a polynucleotide which encodes Beta-lycopene cyclase (lcy-B) and a second transcriptional regulatory sequence; (iii) a polynucleotide which encodes Beta-carotene ketolase (crtW) and a third transcriptional regulatory sequence; and wherein the first, second and third regulatory sequence are selected such that the expression of the Icy-B and the crtW is greater than a level of expression of the crtI. Methods of generating astaxanthin using the plurality of polynucleotide are also disclosed as well as bacterial cells comprising high levels of astaxanthin.