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

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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.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank to Akiko Kubo, Dr. Yoshinobu Terada, Dr. Kohji Ohdan (Ezaki Glico Co., Ltd.), Dr. Maiko Furubayashi, Dr. Katsuro Yaoi [National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)], Dr. Masahiro Murata, and Prof. Michihiro Araki (Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University), for their collaborations with us. We are also grateful to Prof. Kazutoshi Shindo (Japan Women’s University) and Dr. Takashi Maoka (Research Institute for Production Development) for information on carotenoid distribution in plants.

Funding

This study was funded by “Smart Cell Project” organized by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) (16100920-0).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute for Bioresources and Biotechnology, Ishikawa Prefectural University, 1-308, Suematsu, Nonoichi-shi, 921-8836, Japan

    Miho Takemura & Norihiko Misawa

  2. Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1, Higashi, Tsukuba-shi, 305-8566, Japan

    Takehiko Sahara

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  1. Miho Takemura
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MT and TS wrote the manuscript partially, and NM wrote the manuscript mainly. TS conducted experiments for the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Norihiko Misawa.

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Takemura, M., Sahara, T. & Misawa, N. Violaxanthin: natural function and occurrence, biosynthesis, and heterologous production. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 105, 6133–6142 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-021-11452-2

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