African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (2), pp. 164-171, February 2005          
ISSN 1684–5315 © 2005 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Production of bioemulsifier by an unusual isolate of salmon/red melanin containing Rhodotorula glutinis

Oloke J. K.^1* and Glick B. R.²

¹Department of Pure and Applied Biology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria.

²Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: jkoloke@skannet.com; Tel: 234-8033806981.                                     

 Accepted 11 January, 2005

An unusual isolate of Rhodotorula glutinis was obtained. The yeast produces a spore and a crystalliferous protein per cell. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that the parasporal crystals contained polypeptides with a molecular mass of approximately 55, 47, 40, 36 32.5, 30 and 25 kD. The yeast also produces a salmon/red pigment at late stage of exponential growth, which has physical and chemical properties that are consistent with it being a form of melanin. The organism has been used to produce bioemulsifier with emulsion index of 80% when tested against kerosene and crude oil.  The bioemulsifier has been shown to be capable of eliminating about 76% of crude oil pollutant. The colonial and mycelia forms of Rhodosporidium toruloides and Rhodosporidium sphaerocarpum have been successfully isolated from the unusual organism.

Key words: Bioemulsifier, rhodotorula glutinis, teleomorph, Rhodosporidium toruloides.