Isolation and Identification of Echinenone from Micrococcus roseus

Abstract

An orange carotenoid from Micrococcus roseus was purified by solvent partitioning followed by column and thin-layer chromatography. Absorption spectra, chromatographic mobility, and partition coefficient suggested that the pigment was echinenone (4-keto-β-carotene). Reduction yielded a pigment with the spectral and polar properties of isocryptoxanthin (4-hydroxy-β-carotene), the expected product. The orange pigment and its reduction product co-chromatographed with the respective authentic pigments, confirming the original pigment as echinenone. To our knowledge echinenone has not been identified previously as a bacterial pigment.