Carotenoid biosynthesis and biotechnological application

A survey is given on the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway leading to beta -c arotene and its oxidation products in bacteria and plants. This includes th e synthesis of prenyl pyrophosphates via the mevalonate or the 1-deoxyxglul ose-5-phosphate pathways as well as the reaction sequences of carotenoid fo rmation and interconversion together with the properties of the enzymes inv olved. Biotechnological application of this knowledge resulted in the devel opment of heterologous carotenoid production systems using bacteria and fun gi with metabolic engineered precursor supply and crop plants with manipula ted carotenoid biosynthesis. The recent developments in engineering crops w ith increased carotenoid contents are covered. (C) 2001 Academic Press.