Abstract
Bacterioruberin and its derivatives have been described as the major carotenoids produced by haloarchaea (halophilic microbes belonging to the Archaea domain). Recently, different works have revealed that some haloarchaea synthetize other carotenoids at very low concentrations, like lycopene, lycopersene, cis- and trans-phytoene, cis- and trans-phytofluene, neo-β-carotene, and neo-α-carotene. However, there is still controversy about the nature of the pathways for carotenogenesis in haloarchaea. During the last decade, the number of haloarchaeal genomes fully sequenced and assembled has increased significantly. Although some of these genomes are not fully annotated, and many others are drafts, this information provides a new approach to exploring the capability of haloarchaea to produce carotenoids. This work conducts a deeply bioinformatic analysis to establish a hypothetical metabolic map connecting all the potential pathways involved in carotenogenesis in haloarchaea. Special interest has been focused on the synthesis of bacterioruberin in members of the Haloferax genus. The main finding is that in almost all the genus analyzed, a functioning alternative mevalonic acid (MVA) pathway provides isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) in haloarchaea. Then, the main branch to synthesized carotenoids proceeds up to lycopene from which β-carotene or bacterioruberin (and its precursors: monoanhydrobacterioriberin, bisanhydrobacterioruberin, dihydrobisanhydrobacteriuberin, isopentenyldehydrorhodopsin, and dihydroisopenthenyldehydrorhodopsin) can be made.
Highlights
Carotenoids are widespread isoprenoid pigments in nature synthesized by bacteria, archaea, plants, algae, and yeasts [1,2]
Myxol biosynthesis has been less explored than other pathways related to carotenogenesis, and most of the results reported came from studies on cyanobacteria [49,50,51]. γ-carotene glucosides are poorly described in the literature, and they are usually described as “rare” carotenoids [34,52]
Most of these works addressed the characterization of the pigments synthesized by archaea, mainly haloarchaea, some others look for potential applications and more recently, several works describe molecular engineering to optimize de production of some pigments in order to upscale their production [73,74,75,76]
Summary
Carotenoids are widespread isoprenoid pigments in nature synthesized by bacteria, archaea, plants, algae, and yeasts [1,2]. Carotenoids are well-known for their color and potential beneficial effects on human health, and for that reason, they are frequently used in medical, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical industries. These compounds are generally produced by chemical synthesis; the interest in the use of natural sources for carotenoid production is currently increasing [4,5,6].
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