The first carotenoid biosynthetic gene from the basidiomycetous yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous was isolated by heterologous complementation in Escherichia coil. The isolated gene, denominated as crtl, was found to encode for phytoene desaturase. The coding region is interrupted by 11 introns. The deduced amino acid sequence showed significant homology with its bacterial and eukaryotic counterparts, especially those of fungal origin. A plasmid containing the geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase and phytoene synthase encoding genes from Erwinia uredovora was introduced in E. coli together with the phytoene desaturase encoding cDNA from X. dendrorhous. As a result, lycopene accumulation was observed in these transformants. We conclude that in X, dendrorhous the four desaturase steps, by which phytoene is converted into lycopene, are carried out by a single gene product.