Professor Myungji Seo

Incheon National University (President In-Jae Lee) announced that a research team led by Professor Myung-Ji Seo from the Department of Biotechnology has become the first in the world to successfully produce bacterioruberin, a high-value natural pigment, using the industrial microorganism Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Schematic diagram of the research

Bacterioruberin, a C50 carotenoid, is a natural red pigment known to possess stronger antioxidant activity than widely recognized C40 carotenoids such as lycopene and beta-carotene. Due to these properties, bacterioruberin is drawing attention as a promising ingredient for functional foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals with potential applications in skin health, anti-aging, and immune enhancement.

However, until now, bacterioruberin could only be produced in trace amounts from extreme halophilic archaea that thrive in highly saline environments, making mass production difficult despite its excellent functional benefits.

To address this limitation, Professor Myung-Ji Seo’s research team at Incheon National University developed a novel microbial strain capable of biosynthesizing bacterioruberin using synthetic biology and metabolic engineering technologies. The team reprogrammed the existing metabolic pathways of Corynebacterium glutamicum—a microorganism already proven to be safe—and introduced three key genes (lyeJ, crtD, cruF) involved in bacterioruberin biosynthesis from Haloferax marinum, an extreme halophile. Through fed-batch fermentation, the team achieved a production level of 9.74 mg/L, demonstrating the potential for industrial-scale production of bacterioruberin.

Professor Seo emphasized two major achievements of the study: “First, it is the world’s first successful production of bacterioruberin using the industrial microorganism Corynebacterium glutamicum. Second, it marks a paradigm shift in the production of functional bio-materials, showing that rare and expensive natural pigments can be synthesized using safe and eco-friendly microbial fermentation.”

She added, “This research enables the sustainable supply of high-value materials through environmentally friendly precision fermentation processes. We expect bacterioruberin to be widely used in various industries such as functional foods and cosmetics. Future studies will focus on optimizing the bioprocess to further enhance production yields.”

The study was co-led by Dr. Euisang Cho (Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Minnesota) and graduate student Chi-Young Hwang (Ph.D. candidate at Incheon National University), and the results were published on May 12 in the international journal Bioresource Technology.

This research was supported by the Individual Basic Research Program funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT under the project titled “Development of Food and Pharmaceutical Materials Based on C50 Carotenoids for Sarcopenia Alleviation via Precision Fermentation-Based Redesign of Corynebacterium glutamicum” (Principal Investigator: Prof. Myung-Ji Seo, Incheon National University).