Biotechnological production of lycopene by microorganisms.

Biotechnological production of lycopene by microorganisms. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2020 Oct 24;: Authors: Li L, Liu Z, Jiang H, Mao X Abstract Lycopene is a dark red carotenoid belonging to C40 terpenoids and is widely found in a variety of plants, especially ripe red fruits and vegetables. Lycopene has been shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer, other cancers, and cardiovascular disease. It is one of the most widely used carotenoids in the healthcare product market. Currently, commercially available lycopene is mainly extracted from tomatoes. However, production of lycopene from plants is costly and environmentally unfriendly. To date, there have been many reports on the biosynthesis of lycopene by microorganisms, providing another route for lycopene production. This review discusses the lycopene biosynthetic pathway and natural and engineered lycopene-accumulating microorganisms, as well as their production of lycopene. The effects of different metabolic engineering strategies on lycopene accumulation are also considered. Furthermore, this work presents perspectives concerning the microbial production of lycopene, especially trends to construct microbial cell factories for lycopene production. KEY POINTS: • Recent achievements in the lycopene biosynthesis in microorganisms. • Review of lycopene biosynthetic metabolism engineering strategy. • Discuss the current challenges and prospects of using microorganisms to prod...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: research