Use of carrot juice and tomato juice as natural precursors for enhanced production of ubiquinone-10 by Pseudomonas diminuta NCIM 2865

Ubiquinone-10 (CoQ10) plays an essential role in the electron transport system, and has been extensively used in food and pharmaceutical industries. This paper reports on the use of statistical approach and natural precursors for enhanced production of CoQ10 using Pseudomonas diminuta NCIM 2865. Primarily, significance of each medium component with respect to CoQ10 production was identified by Plackett–Burman design. In the second step, concentration of most significant factors and their interaction was studied with response surface methodology (RSM). CoQ10 production increased considerably from 6.68 to 15.58 mg/l when the fermentation was carried out in the RSM optimised medium. Carrot juice and tomato juice acted as natural precursors, and enhanced the yield of CoQ10 from 15.58 to 29.22 mg/l and 24.35 mg/l, respectively.