Abstract: A strain of fungus LGL was isolated from moldy waste tobacco stems,which can grow rapidly and produce carotenoids with a maximum absorption wavelength of 472 nm on WTS.After 6 d culture at 30 ℃ under solid state fermentation,the dry weight of mycelia,carotenoids production and content were reached 50.50 g/Kg, 21.98 mg/kg and 435.15 μg/g,respectively. To confirm the classification of LGL,culture and morphological characterization were applied and PCR was carried out to measure the gene sequence of ITS.The ITS sequence of LGL was compared with those in GenBank and the phylogenetic tree was constructed with related fungi.Based on the above results,the strain LGL was identified as Neurospora sitophila.

Key words: tobacco stem, isolation, identification, carotenoids