类胡萝卜素合成的相关基因及其基因工程

类胡萝卜素具有多种生物功能，尤其在保护人类健康方面起着重要的作用，如它们是合成维生素A的前体，能够增强人体免疫力和具有防癌抗癌的功效。人体自身不能合成类胡萝卜素，必须通过外界摄入；但类胡萝卜素在许多植物中含量较低，并且很难用化学方法合成。随着类胡萝卜素生物合成途径的阐明及其相关基因的克隆，运用基因工程手段调控类胡萝卜素的生物合成已成为可能。本文综述了微生物和高等植物类胡萝卜素生物合成途径中相关基因的克隆，以及运用这些基因通过异源微生物生产类胡萝卜素和提高作物类胡萝卜素含量的基因工程研究进展。

Gene and Gene Engineering of Carotenoid Biosynthesis

Carotenoids have a range of diverse biological functions and actions, especially playing an important role in human health with provitamin A activity, anti-cancer activity, enhancing immune ability and so on. Human body can't synthesis carotenoids by itself and must absorb them from outside. However, carotenoid contents in many plant are very low, and many kinds of carotenoid are difficult to produce by chemical ways. With the elucidation of carotenoid biosynthetic pathway and cloning genes of relative enzymes from microorganisms and higher plants, it is possible to regulate carotenoid biosynthesis via genetic engineering. This article reviews gene cloning of carotenoid biosynthetic enzymes in microorganisms and higher plants, and advances in the studies of carotenoid production in heterologous microorganisms and crop plants using gene-manipulated carotenoid biosynthesis.