Microbiological Studies on Petroleum and Natural Gas

A carotenoid pigment-producing Brevibacterium strain No. 103 was isolated from a gas field. For the cell production of this bacterium, it was suitable to use a mixture of ammonium nitrate and urea as nitrogen source, and normal alkanes of C14, C16, C17 and C18 as a carbon source.The visible absorption maxima of three of the four fractionated pigments were identical with those of β-carotene, astacin, and astaxanthin. The remaining one pigment was not identified. The main components of these carotenoids were astacin and astaxanthin.