A marine bacterium producing carotenoid was isolated from the Yosu coastal area of South Korea, and has been recorded as MCPBK-1. It was identified as Curtobacterium sp.. The optimum conditions of marine carotenoid fermentation from Cutobacterium sp. were pH 7.0, a temperature of

, 4 mM fructose as a carbon source, 0.07% tryptone as a nitrogen source, 0.5 mM

ion as a mineral source and

of cyanocobalamine as a growth factor in a

jar-fermentor. 13.0 mg/ml of the marine carotenoid were produced under optimum conditions. The crude marine carotenoid isolated was composed of 5 different compounds, i.e : tunaxanthin(86.6%), diatoxanthin (7.1%),

(2.1%), canthaxanthin(1.9%) and cynthiaxanthin (1.9%). Physiological properties including antibacterial activity, cytotoxic effect, antioxidative effect and free radical scavenging activity were characterized with the crude carotenoid, which exhibited no antibacterial activity against E. coli and Lactobacillus bulgaricus, but a strong cytotoxic effect against cancer cells such as HepG2 (Hepatocellular carcinoma, human, ATCC HB-8065) and HeLa (Cervical carcinoma, human, ATCC CCL-2) cells, the ratios of impediment were 86.4% and 39.2%, respectively. This carotenoid, also, expressed a strong antioxidative effect (83%) against CCL-13 (diploid, monotypic hepatocyte, human, ATCC CCL-13) and exhibited free radical scavenging activity (43.4%) when using at a concentration of

of the crude carotenoid.