Carotenoid accumulation in Dietzia maris NITD protects from macromolecular damage

Over the past decades, nutraceuticals have attracted considerable interest because of their potential nutritional, safety and therapeutic effects. Carotenoid molecules are potent nutraceuticals with an attractive colour and have been shown to play crucial roles in the immune system and susceptibility of organisms to certain diseases. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are considered to be a major threat to cellular components and lead to protein oxidation, lipid peroxidation and DNA damage. In the present study, canthaxanthin (CX), an orange-red keto-carotenoid, was extracted from Dietzia maris NITD. Carbonyl content measurement showed that the presence of CX can prevent protein oxidation in D. maris NITD. The inhibition of protein oxidation in vitro revealed a high correlation coefficient of the extracted CX with positive controls. Both the linoleic acid model (IC50 = 932.48 μg/ml) and the goat liver model experiments showed that CX can also inhibit lipid peroxidation in vitro. CX from D. maris NITD was also proved to be effective in maintaining the observable intactness of a model DNA (pBR322). The present study indicated that bacterial CX can be a useful bioactive compound to prevent oxidative damage incurred by cellular macromolecules in terms of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical aspects.