VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) has discovered Priestia flexa bacteria in the deep sea area of the Java Trench, which has potentially high economic value since it contains lycopene and Vitamin B12.

"This bacteria from the deep sea was successfully isolated from seawater samples at a depth of 1 thousand meters," said a deep sea microbiologist from BRIN, Ocky Karna Radjasa, in Jakarta on Monday.

He informed that based on the whole genome sequence (WGS) data, the bacteria, which were first extracted from the deep sea in Indonesia, contain natural ingredients that are usually used in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

"This bacteria contains lycopene and Vitamin B12; for industry, it is usually used as raw material for cosmetics, beauty, nutrition, supplements, and pharmaceuticals, and the health food industry needs these microbes," he said.

Lycopene is an antioxidant that counteracts cell or tissue oxidation by reactive oxidative species (ROS), thereby helping prevent heart disease, and it also has anti-cancer effects, he added.

Generally, he said, lycopene is obtained from plants, which give red and orange colors or pigments to vegetables and fruit. The compound is classified as a carotenoid and can be found in foods such as tomatoes, watermelons, and guavas.

The discovery of lycopene from the deep sea could provide efficiency measures, he added.

He gave the example of the lycopene that usually comes from tomatoes, saying the harvesting process takes 75 days, and storing and then processing tomatoes into lycopene requires a large area.

For obtaining lycopene from the deep sea, he said, it only takes three days to grow the Priestia flexa bacteria whose contents can be extracted.

Compared to the lycopene that comes from tomatoes, the place for storing and producing microbes into lycopene in this case also does not have to be large, he explained.

"Interestingly, lycopene products derived from microbes have higher content than standard original products," he pointed out.

Looking at the global market trend, lycopene was worth Rp107.2 million US dollars in 2020 and the figure is projected to increase to US$187.3 million by 2030, with an estimated annual growth of 5.2 percent.

Radjasa, who is also head of the Earth and Maritime Research Organization of BRIN, explained that the discovery of the Priestia flexa bacteria in Indonesia's deep sea is a step toward achieving efficiency and has economic potential for Indonesia. Currently, lycopene is still imported to meet domestic needs.

"Even though the fruit is available in Indonesia, currently, all domestic industries are still 100 percent relying on imports for their lycopene needs," he pointed out.

Regarding the Vitamin B12 content found in the Priestia flexa bacteria, he said that it has great potential for producers of vegetarian-based healthy foods.

"Vitamin B12 from deep sea microbes has great potential for vegetarian people who need proteins, but not from animal sources," he added.

Vitamin B12, or cobalamin, is useful in the process of forming red blood cells. Cobalamin also plays a role in protein metabolism. Vitamin B12 usually comes from red meat, liver, eggs, and milk. (Antaranews)