Recovery of E,E-farnesol from cultures of yeast erg9 mutants: extraction with polymeric beads and purification by normal-phase chromatography.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae erg9 mutants blocked at squalene synthase require ergosterol for growth and produce E,E-farnesol. Typically, at least half the amount of farnesol remains cell associated. Practically insoluble in water, farnesol can be extracted from production cultures of the erg9 mutants using either methanol/hexane or poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) beads. The first method consumes more solvents and requires centrifugation to clear an interface emulsion. The second method uses 50% less solvent and the beads can be used repeatedly for extraction. The solvent-free crude extract from the beads extraction contained higher concentration of farnesol (76-77%) than that from the solvent extraction (61-65%). Farnesol was obtained after normal-phase chromatography in high overall recovery (94%) and purity (99%). (C) 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 25: 1111-1114, 2009