Lycopene: biosynthesis in baker's yeast

Lycopene is a kind of natural pigment in plants It is named after the first extraction from tomato The antioxidant activity of lycopene is 100 times higher than that of vitamin E, which is not only beneficial to anti-cancer and anti-cancer, but also has remarkable effect in enhancing immunity, preventing cardiovascular disease and delaying aging, and is a new functional natural pigment with great development prospect It is understood that most of lycopene production at present mainly depends on plant extraction or mold fermentation The former will occupy a lot of land, and it is easy to be limited by seasons and regions; the latter has high cost and potential food safety hazards because of long fermentation cycle and the need to add chemical blockers For this reason, the microbial production of lycopene is a vast world with both challenges and opportunities But now, scientists have realized the biosynthesis of lycopene in baker's yeast, successfully interpreting the green environmental protection from the production strain to the production mode According to Xiao Wenhai, a researcher from the biosynthesis research team of Tianjin University, as early as the beginning of 2012, they targeted the huge demand for lycopene, selected bakers yeast as the production bacteria for food safety, and successfully obtained the first generation of efficient lycopene production bacteria by the end of 2015 after nearly three years of research Since the end of 2015, the team has also creatively conquered two other key technologies based on the first generation of production bacteria and developed the second generation of production bacteria The abundance of lycopene in this strain is 20% higher than that of the first generation, and the fermentation period is 15% shorter At the same time, the strain is labeled "anti-counterfeiting" Due to the short fermentation period and high purity, the artificial lycopene has been favored by many domestic enterprises, and has a broad prospect of industrialization It is revealed that the experimental team of Tianjin University has signed a cooperation agreement with the biotechnology company and is in the process of pilot transformation, which is expected to achieve industrialization in 2018 "We look forward to the second generation of lycopene producing bacteria in the field of biomedicine and food as soon as possible." Xiao Wenhai said.