*2.6. Carotenoid Measurement Assay*

Mycelium samples grown in liquid CM medium (23 ◦C, 150 rpm) for three days were collected for lyophilization. For each strain, 200 mg of lyophilized mycelial biomass was added in 750 μL of hexane and 500 μL of methyl alcohol; then, it was homogenized in a Tissuelyser-24 with stainless-steel beads (Jingxin, Ltd., Shanghai, China). The resulted suspensions were centrifuged at 12,000 rpm for 10 min. The supernatant was used to determine the absorbance value (A) at 445 nm. Carotenoid contents of the samples were quantified via the equation: X(mg/100 g) = A × y(mL) × 1000 Af × g , in which "y", "Af", and "g" represent the volume of the extraction buffer, average absorption coefficient of the carotenoid molecular (2500), and the weight of the sample, respectively.
