Biosynthesis and Engineering of Carotenoids and Apocarotenoids in Plants: State of the Art and Future Prospects (2025)

More than meets the eye: from carotenoid biosynthesis, to new insights into apocarotenoid signaling

Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 2015

Metabolic engineering of carotenoid biosynthesis in plants

Trends in biotechnology, 2008

Carotenoids are one of the most diverse classes of natural compounds. Plant carotenoids are composed of a C40 isoprenoid skeleton with or without epoxy, hydroxy and keto groups. They have fundamental roles in human nutrition as antioxidants and vitamin A precursors and their consumption is increasingly associated with protection from a range of diseases. They are also used commercially as safe food, feed and cosmetic colorants and they protect plants from photooxidative stress. In the past six years many metabolic engineering efforts have been undertaken in plants aiming to improve the nutritional value of staple crops, to enable the use of plants as 'cell factories' for producing specialty carotenoids and to improve plant resistance to abiotic stress.

Genetic manipulation of carotenoid pathway in higher plants

2003

Overview of Genetic Manipulation in Plant Carotenoid Biosynthesis Pathway

Carotenoids in Crops: Roles, Regulation of the Pathway, Breeding to Improve the Content

The carotenoids are natural phytochemicals important to exploit the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables because they are required as provitamin A, antioxidants and immune system stimulants. At biochemical level, the biosynthetic pathway has been extensively clarified in several organisms and a near complete set of genes encoding enzymes have been identified. Some major crops (i.e. cereals or potato) are characterized by insufficient (or null) carotenoid content and to combat malnutrition, especially in developing countries, food biofortification is a relevant objective. Traditional approaches of breeding have been applied in some vegetables to study the genetic factors implicated in carotenoid accumulation and more recently, several interesting results have been obtained by recombinant DNA techniques. The regulation of carotenoid biosynthesis is only partially known and it deserves particular attention to improve the efficiency of plant breeding. In the introduction of this c...

Plant carotenoids: recent advances and future perspectives

Molecular Horticulture, 2022

Carotenoids are isoprenoid metabolites synthesized de novo in all photosynthetic organisms. Carotenoids are essential for plants with diverse functions in photosynthesis, photoprotection, pigmentation, phytohormone synthesis, and signaling. They are also critically important for humans as precursors of vitamin A synthesis and as dietary antioxidants. The vital roles of carotenoids to plants and humans have prompted significant progress toward our understanding of carotenoid metabolism and regulation. New regulators and novel roles of carotenoid metabolites are continuously revealed. This review focuses on current status of carotenoid metabolism and highlights recent advances in comprehension of the intrinsic and multi-dimensional regulation of carotenoid accumulation. We also discuss the functional evolution of carotenoids, the agricultural and horticultural application, and some key areas for future research.

Carotenoid metabolism: New insights and synthetic approaches

Frontiers in Plant Science

Carotenoids are well-known isoprenoid pigments naturally produced by plants, algae, photosynthetic bacteria as well as by several heterotrophic microorganisms. In plants, they are synthesized in plastids where they play essential roles in light-harvesting and in protecting the photosynthetic apparatus from reactive oxygen species (ROS). Carotenoids are also precursors of bioactive metabolites called apocarotenoids, including vitamin A and the phytohormones abscisic acid (ABA) and strigolactones (SLs). Genetic engineering of carotenogenesis made possible the enhancement of the nutritional value of many crops. New metabolic engineering approaches have recently been developed to modulate carotenoid content, including the employment of CRISPR technologies for single-base editing and the integration of exogenous genes into specific “safe harbors” in the genome. In addition, recent studies revealed the option of synthetic conversion of leaf chloroplasts into chromoplasts, thus increasing ...

Metabolic Engineering of Carotenoid Pathways in Crop Plants

Transcriptomics: Open Access, 2015

Goldacre Review: Carotenoids in nature: insights from plants and beyond

Functional Plant Biology, 2011

Carotenoids are natural isoprenoid pigments that provide leaves, fruits, vegetables and flowers with distinctive yellow, orange and some reddish colours as well as several aromas in plants. Their bright colours serve as attractants for pollination and seed dispersal. Carotenoids comprise a large family of C40 polyenes and are synthesised by all photosynthetic organisms, aphids, some bacteria and fungi alike. In animals carotenoid derivatives promote health, improve sexual behaviour and are essential for reproduction. As such, carotenoids are commercially important in agriculture, food, health and the cosmetic industries. In plants, carotenoids are essential components required for photosynthesis, photoprotection and the production of carotenoid-derived phytohormones, including ABA and strigolactone. The carotenoid biosynthetic pathway has been extensively studied in a range of organisms providing an almost complete pathway for carotenogenesis. A new wave in carotenoid biology has re...

Travel advice on the road to carotenoids in plants

Plant Science, 2010