Caroten-omics of pigments synthesised by Gordonia rubropertincta through High Resolution Mass Spectrometry and in-silico programming approach

Abstract

Carotenoids are tetraterpenoid pigments synthesised by microorganisms, plants and present in some animals. They are metabolites of importance in research and industry. The present study aimed to analyse the High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) experimental data through R programming and identify all the carotenoids that Gordonia rubropertincta produces. The growth rate of the bacterium was 0.24 {+/-} 0.132 h-1, produced about 140 {+/-} 20 mg carotenoids/g wet cell weight (WCW) on extraction with methanol and the extract was subjected to HRMS. The number of carotenoids the bacterium synthesizes was identified to be 93 and the concentration of few carotenoids at particular time was pinpointed using R. The distinctive features of the bacterium like high number of carotenoids synthesis through various pathways, their fluctuation with respect to time, storage of carotenoids in cell cytoplasm, and its auto-fluorescent property were also discovered.