ArticlePlant biotechnology journal2019
The road to astaxanthin production in tomato fruit reveals plastid and metabolic adaptation resulting in an unintended high lycopene genotype with delayed over-ripening properties.
Article in Plant biotechnology journal, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Advances in engineering the production of the natural red pigment lycopene: A systematic review from a biotechnology perspective.Journal of advanced research · 2023Pooled it
- Metabolism and regulation of chlorophyll and carotenoids in tomato fruits.Horticulture research · 2026Article
- Developing new tomato lines in Indigo Rose genetic background with differential anthocyanin and carotenoid production in fruits.Frontiers in plant science · 2026Article
- Article
- The FIBRILLIN multigene family in tomato, their roles in plastoglobuli structure and metabolism.The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology · 2025Article
- Metabolically engineered plant cell cultures as biofactories for the production of high-value carotenoids astaxanthin and canthaxanthin.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Multi-Omics Analysis Provides Insights into a Mosaic-Leaf Phenotype of Astaxanthin-Producing Tobacco.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Functional phytochemicals in tomatoes: biosynthesis, gene regulation, and human health implications.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Review
- Cell-penetrating peptides for sustainable agriculture.Trends in plant science · 2024Review
- Ketocarotenoid production in tomato triggers metabolic reprogramming and cellular adaptation: The quest for homeostasis.Plant biotechnology journal · 2024Article
- QTL Mapping of Zeaxanthin Content in Sweet Corn Using Recombinant Inbred Line Population across Different Environments.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Enrichment of health-promoting lutein and zeaxanthin in tomato fruit through metabolic engineering.Synthetic and systems biotechnology · 2022Article
- Engineering an oilseed crop for hyper-accumulation of carotenoids in the seeds without using a traditional marker gene.Plant cell reports · 2022Article
- Engineering high levels of saffron apocarotenoids in tomato.Horticulture research · 2022Article
- Development of zeaxanthin-rich tomato fruit through genetic manipulations of carotenoid biosynthesis.Plant biotechnology journal · 2020Article
- Canthaxanthin, a Red-Hot Carotenoid: Applications, Synthesis, and Biosynthetic Evolution.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- A GDSL Esterase/Lipase Catalyzes the Esterification of Lutein in Bread Wheat.The Plant cell · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Tomato fruit are an important nutritional component of the human diet and offer potential to act as a cell factory for speciality chemicals, which are often produced by chemical synthesis. In the present study our goal was to produce competitive levels of the high value ketocarotenoid, astaxanthin, in tomato fruit. The initial stage in this process was achieved by expressing the 4, 4' carotenoid oxygenase (crtW) and 3, 3' hydroxylase (crtZ) from marine bacteria in tomato under constitutive control. Characterization of this genotype showed a surprising low level production of ketocarotenoids in ripe fruit but over production of lycopene (~3.5 mg/g DW), accompanied by delayed ripening. In order to accumulate these non-endogenous carotenoids, metabolite induced plastid differentiation was evident as well as esterification. Metabolomic and pathway based transcription studies corroborated the delayed onset of ripening. The data also revealed the importance of determining pheno/chemotype inheritance, with ketocarotenoid producing progeny displaying loss of vigour in the homozygous state but stability and robustness in the hemizygous state. To iteratively build on these data and optimize ketocarotenoid production in this genotype, a lycopene β-cyclase was incorporated to avoid precursor limitations and a more efficient hydroxylase was introduced. These combinations resulted in the production of astaxanthin (and ketocarotenoid esters) in ripe fruit at ~3 mg/g DW. Based on previous studies, this level of product formation represents an economic competitive value in a Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) matrix that requires minimal downstream processing.
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