β-胡萝卜素合成的代谢工程研究进展

Progress in metabolic engineering of β-carotene synthesis

β-胡萝卜素是自然界中最重要的商业化生产的植物色素之一,具有多种生理功能和生物活性。自上世纪60年代开始,随着系统生物学概念的提出以及对类胡萝卜素合成途径研究的不断深入,系统代谢工程在提高类胡萝卜素产量方面发挥了重要作用。文中在介绍β-胡萝卜素传统生产方法的基础上,重点介绍了如何运用系统代谢工程手段构建β-胡萝卜素高产菌株,并分析了进一步提高工程菌β-胡萝卜素产量所面临的主要问题及可能的解决方案,为β-胡萝卜素的高效生产提供了思路。

β-carotene is an important natural plant pigment and has various physiological functions in organisms. With the proposition of systematic biology and progress in carotenoids biosynthesis since the 1960s, metabolic engineering has played a significant role in enhancing carotenoid production. In this review, we present β-carotene＇s traditional production methods and metabolic engineering strategies for constructing β-carotene-producing strains. Meanwhile, main problems and corresponding solutions to improve β-carotene yield of engineered strains were further analyzed, for further efficient microbial production of β-carotene.