The goal of this work was to develop a biocatalytic process concept for the production of natural-labeled β-ionone by regiospecific oxidative cleavage of β-carotene. The biocatalysts applied were carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases. The core areas of this work were:
1. Determination and systematic investigation of substrate delivery strategies for the highly hydrophobic substrate β-carotene to the enzyme AtCCD1 in an aqueous reaction medium
2. Further characterisation and improved recombinant expression of the enzyme AtCCD1 and of alternative carotenases for the process concept
3. Identification of a suitable in situ product separation technique for β-ionone from the ongoing bioprocess and determination of technical parameters
4. Combination of previous results: Proof of concept for integrated bioprocess by a lab scale demonstration plant
5. Investigation of carotenoid containing biomass as potential process substrate instead of crystalline β-carotene
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