Abstract
Astaxanthin is a natural pigment, known for its strong antioxidant activity and numerous health benefits to human and animals. Its antioxidant activity is known to be substantially greater than β-carotene and about a thousand times more effective than vitamin E. The potential health benefits have generated a growing commercial interest, and the escalating demand has prompted the exploration of alternative supply chain. Astaxanthin naturally occurs in many sea creatures such as trout, shrimp, and microalgae, some fungi, bacteria, and flowering plants, acting to protect hosts against environmental stress and adverse conditions. Due to the rapid growth and simple growth medium requirement, microbes, such as the microalga, Haematococcus pluvialis, and the fungus Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous, have been developed to produce astaxanthin. With advances in metabolic engineering, non-carotenogenic microbes, such as Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, have been purposed to produce astaxanthin and significant progress has been achieved. Here, we review the recent achievements in microbial astaxanthin biosynthesis (with reference to metabolic engineering strategies) and extraction methods, current challenges (technical and regulatory), and commercialization outlook. Due to greenness, sustainability, and dramatic cost reduction, we envision microbial synthesis of astaxanthin offers an alternative means of production (e.g. chemical synthesis) in the near future.
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C.Z. and X.C. proposed the initial outline of the manuscript. C.Z. and H.P.T. wrote and reviewed the manuscript. All authors contributed to the discussion and approved the final manuscript.
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Key Points
• Growing commercial interests and demand of astaxanthin due to its health benefits
• Recent achievements in astaxanthin biosynthesis and extraction in microbes
• A summary of metabolic engineering strategies in astaxanthin biosynthesis
• Discussion about current challenges and outlook of microbial-derived astaxanthin
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Zhang, C., Chen, X. & Too, HP. Microbial astaxanthin biosynthesis: recent achievements, challenges, and commercialization outlook. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 104, 5725–5737 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-020-10648-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-020-10648-2