Lutein is an important pigment in yellow coloured flowers such as marigold and a key nutritional ingredient in eye health but there are some interesting products formed when it breaks down, especially in the formation of volatiles some of which are associated with smoke for example. It is also the industrial feedstock for a number of fermentations using Geotrichum sp. and Bacillus sp. (Sanchez-Contreras et al., 2000) to create β-ionone derivative compounds which have a range of parma violet, fruity and other floral odours. These compounds are probably best prepared using biotechnology methods rather than chemical synthesis. These aromas are important in perfume bases and even in generating tobacco aroma (Maldonado-Robledo et al., 2003). In further work on these particular fermentations, the carotenoid is cleaved at C-9 to generate C13 norisoprenoids using a microbial mix of the yeast Trichosporon asahii and bacteria Paenibacillus amylolyticus (Rodriguez-Bustamente et al., 2005, 2006). They optimised aroma production using an experimental design model which best use of the nutritional requirements of the micro-organisms. They also looked at ways to effectively recover the aromas using modified silicas although over adsorbents are available which might specifically adsorb such compounds. The enzyme which is believed to catalyse breakdown of lutein is possibly a fungal peroxidase and was an extracellular enzyme. This sort of finding suggests that if a single enzyme is required, it could be easily exploited in an immobilised enzyme system.
One other finding, the production of ionone derivatives is controlled in the fermentation by the inhibitory presence of glucose (Rodriguez-Bustamente et al., 2009) which suggests that breakdown of carotene provides some sort of metabolic release of carbon structures for further metabolism.
Not all degradation is so desirable. Virgin olive oils which rely on the presence of lutein to impart a slightly golden-yellow colour over the green base of the oil rely on this pigment to impart a fresh look to the oil. In thermal processing, degradation as with other carotenoids is 1st –order although lutein is one of the most stable of these pigment types. The degradation process is complex and stated to involve many competing elemental steps. It is also reasoned that the criterion for carotenoid degradation generally could be used to detect abuse and adulteration of olive oil (Aparicio-Ruiz et al., 2011).
References
Aparicio-Ruiz, R., Minguez-Mosquera, M.I., Gandul-Rojas, B. (2011) Thermal degradation kinetics of lutein, β-carotene and β-crytoxanthin in virgin olive oils. J. Fd. Composition Anal. 24(6) pp. 811-820
Maldonado-Robledo, G.; Rodriguez-Bustamante, E.; Sanchez-Contreras, A.; Rodriguez-Sonoja, R.; Sanchez, S. (2003) Production of tobacco aroma from lutein. Specific role of the microorganisms involved in the process. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 62, pp. 484.
Rodríguez-Bustamante E, Maldonado-Robledo G, Ortiz MA, Diaz-Avalos C, Sánchez S (2005) Bioconversion of lutein using a microbial mixture—maximizing the production of tobacco aroma compounds by manipulation of culture medium. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 68 pp. 174-182
Rodríguez-Bustamante, E. et al. (2006) Novel method for aroma recovery from the bioconversion of lutein to ionone by Thricosporon asahii using a mesoporous silicate material. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 71(4), p. 568-573
Rodríguez-Bustamante, E., Maldonado-Robledo, G., Arreguin-Espinosa, R., Mendoza-Hernandez, G., Rodriguez-Sanoja, R. Sanchez, S. (2009) Glucose exerts a negative effect over a peroxidase from Trichosporon asahii, with carotenoid cleaving activity. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 84 (3) pp. 499-510
Sánchez-Contreras, A.; Jiménez, M.; Sanchez, S. (2000) Bioconversion of lutein to products with aroma. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 54(4) pp. 528- 534
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