1. Academic Validation
  2. Violaxanthin: natural function and occurrence, biosynthesis, and heterologous production

Violaxanthin: natural function and occurrence, biosynthesis, and heterologous production

  • Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2021 Aug;105(16-17):6133-6142. doi: 10.1007/s00253-021-11452-2.
Miho Takemura 1 Takehiko Sahara 2 Norihiko Misawa 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Research Institute for Bioresources and Biotechnology, Ishikawa Prefectural University, 1-308, Suematsu, Nonoichi-shi, 921-8836, Japan.
  • 2 Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1, Higashi, Tsukuba-shi, 305-8566, Japan.
  • 3 Research Institute for Bioresources and Biotechnology, Ishikawa Prefectural University, 1-308, Suematsu, Nonoichi-shi, 921-8836, Japan. n-misawa@ishikawa-pu.ac.jp.
Abstract

Violaxanthin is biosynthesized from zeaxanthin with zeaxanthin epoxidase (ZEP) by way of antheraxanthin only in photosynthetic eukaryotes including higher Plants and involved in the xanthophyll cycle to eliminate excessive LIGHT energy. Violaxanthin and antheraxanthin have commercially been unavailable, in contrast to commercial production of other carotenoids contained in higher Plants, e.g., lycopene, β-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, and capsanthin. One of the reasons is considered that resource Plants or other resource organisms do not exist for enabling efficient supply of the epoxy-carotenoids, which are expected to be produced through (metabolic) pathway engineering with heterologous microbial hosts such as Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this Mini-Review, we show heterologous production of violaxanthin with the two Microorganisms that have exhibited significant advances these days. We further describe natural function and occurrence, and biosynthesis involving violaxanthin, antheraxanthin, and their derivatives that include auroxanthin and mutatoxanthin. KEY POINTS: • A comprehensive review on epoxy-carotenoids violaxanthin and antheraxanthin. • Pathway engineering for the epoxy-carotenoids in heterologous microbes. • Our new findings on violaxanthin production with the budding yeast.

Keywords

Antheraxanthin; Escherichia coli; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Violaxanthin; Zeaxanthin epoxidase.

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