Properties of pigments produced by S. epidermidis

The major pigment isolated from S. epidermidis cells grown at 37°C was analyzed by various physicochemical methods. The chemical structure was presumed to be glucopyranosyl-1-0-(4, 4'-diapo-7', 8', 11', 12'-tetrahydrolycopen-4-oate)-6-0-(2-methyl butanoate).The effect of growth temperature on the production of pigments was studied by HPLC. Cells grown at 25°C had a different C30-carotenoid as the major pigment from cells grown at 37°C. Cells grown at 42°C had a pigment which was not a carotenoid.By shifting the culture temperature from 37°C to 25°C or 42°C, the composition of the pigments did not change, but the amount of pigments increased in the case of a shift to 25°C.