Natural carotenoids are an alternative to synthetic orange-red pigments. They are present in crustaceans as a protein-pigment complex. In order to extract this highly unstable pigment, crustacean waste must be stabilized; lactic fermentation is a simple and environmentally friendly method to achieve this goal. Shrimp wastes were inoculated with Lactobacillus bacterial cultures. Carotenoids were then extracted with an organic solvent system. Protein-pigment splitting was carried out using a mixture of 4 commercial enzymes; and the protein was separated from the pigment by ultrafiltration. Electrophoretograms showed that the pigment was attached to a 265-kDa protein. Splitting the protein-pigment complex allows studies on pigment absorption, stability and application.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.