Harshini P, Varghese Ressin, Pachamuthu Kannan, Ramamoorthy Siva
School of Bio Sciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu 632014 India.
3 Biotech. 2025 May;15(5):129. doi: 10.1007/s13205-025-04290-w. Epub 2025 Apr 16.
Pigments are known for their vital roles in the growth and development of plants and microbes. In addition, they are also an imperative component of several industries, including textiles, foods, and pharmaceuticals, owing to their immense colours and therapeutic potential. Conventionally, pigments are obtained from plant resources, and the advent of propagation techniques boosted the massive production. However, it could not meet the booming demand, leading to the incorporation of new genetic engineering tools. This review focuses on the role of various genetic engineering techniques in enhancing pigment production in plants and microorganisms. It also critically analyzes the efficacy and bottlenecks of these techniques in augmenting pigment biosynthesis. Furthermore, the use of microbes as pigment biofactories and the prospects in the field of genome editing to augment pigment synthesis are discussed. The limitations in the existing techniques underline the need for advanced genome editing strategies to broaden the mass production of pigments to meet the surging needs.
色素因其在植物和微生物生长发育中的重要作用而闻名。此外，由于其丰富的颜色和治疗潜力，它们也是包括纺织、食品和制药在内的多个行业的重要组成部分。传统上，色素是从植物资源中获取的，繁殖技术的出现促进了大规模生产。然而，这无法满足蓬勃发展的需求，导致了新的基因工程工具的引入。本综述重点关注各种基因工程技术在提高植物和微生物色素产量中的作用。它还批判性地分析了这些技术在增强色素生物合成方面的功效和瓶颈。此外，还讨论了将微生物用作色素生物工厂以及基因组编辑领域在增强色素合成方面的前景。现有技术的局限性凸显了需要先进的基因组编辑策略来扩大色素的大规模生产以满足不断增长的需求。
