Biotechnological advances for improving natural pigment production: a state-of-the-art review

Xiaomei Lyu; Yan Lyu; Hongwei Yu; WeiNing Chen; Lidan Ye; Ruijin Yang

doi:10.1186/s40643-022-00497-4

Biotechnological advances for improving natural pigment production: a state-of-the-art review

Bioresour Bioprocess. 2022 Jan 28;9(1):8. doi: 10.1186/s40643-022-00497-4.

Authors

Xiaomei Lyu^#¹, Yan Lyu^#¹, Hongwei Yu², WeiNing Chen³, Lidan Ye⁴, Ruijin Yang⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, People's Republic of China.
² Institute of Bioengineering, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, People's Republic of China.
³ School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637459, Singapore.
⁴ Institute of Bioengineering, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, People's Republic of China. yelidan@zju.edu.cn.
⁵ School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, People's Republic of China. yrj@jiangnan.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

In current years, natural pigments are facing a fast-growing global market due to the increase of people's awareness of health and the discovery of novel pharmacological effects of various natural pigments, e.g., carotenoids, flavonoids, and curcuminoids. However, the traditional production approaches are source-dependent and generally subject to the low contents of target pigment compounds. In order to scale-up industrial production, many efforts have been devoted to increasing pigment production from natural producers, via development of both in vitro plant cell/tissue culture systems, as well as optimization of microbial cultivation approaches. Moreover, synthetic biology has opened the door for heterologous biosynthesis of pigments via design and re-construction of novel biological modules as well as biological systems in bio-platforms. In this review, the innovative methods and strategies for optimization and engineering of both native and heterologous producers of natural pigments are comprehensively summarized. Current progress in the production of several representative high-value natural pigments is also presented; and the remaining challenges and future perspectives are discussed.

Keywords: Heterologous biosynthesis; Metabolic engineering; Microbial cultivation; Natural pigments; Plant cell/tissue culture.

Publication types

Review

Abstract

Publication types

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