Molecular characterization of bixin—An important industrial product

Bixin is commercially important and increasingly in demand as an apocarotenoid pigment derived from the seed coats of the tropical shrub Bixa orellana. It has been widely used in food and cosmetics for a very longer time. Recently, the biosynthetic pathway of bixin has been elucidated and three genes from B. orellana govern bixin synthesis from the precursor lycopene. These genes code for lycopene cleavage dioxygenase, bixin aldehyde dehydrogenase, and norbixin carboxyl methyltransferase, which catalyze the sequential conversion of lycopene into bixin. Based on available chemical data and by analogy to biosynthetic pathway for bixin, comparative genome sequence analysis has been carried out. We have identified and functionally characterized that bixin coding genes are not only present in Bixa, but also in Crocus and Vitis. Our chromatographic study based on TLC, FT-IR and GC–MS shows evidence of presence of bixin in the other two organisms. This is the first report and Crocus and Vitis could be an alternative and competitive source for natural bixin production.