Scientists at the University of California San Diego have developed a new method to produce large quantities of xanthommatin, a pigment that enables camouflage in cephalopods such as octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish. The research was led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography and published on November 3 in Nature Biotechnology.
Xanthommatin is known for its color-shifting properties and plays a key role in the camouflage abilities of certain marine animals. Despite its potential uses in materials science and cosmetics, it has been difficult to manufacture this pigment efficiently in laboratory settings. Traditional methods yield very small amounts and require labor-intensive chemical synthesis.
The UC San Diego team’s approach used bioengineering to induce bacteria to produce xanthommatin at much higher yields than previously possible—up to 1,000 times more than traditional methods. Their technique connects the survival of genetically engineered bacteria directly with the production of both xanthommatin and formic acid. This feedback loop ensures that only bacteria producing sufficient pigment can survive and multiply.
“We’ve developed a new technique that has sped up our capabilities to make a material, in this case xanthommatin, in a bacterium for the first time,” said Bradley Moore, senior author of the study and marine chemist at Scripps Oceanography and UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. “This natural pigment is what gives an octopus or a squid its ability to camouflage — a fantastic superpower — and our achievement to advance production of this material is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Leah Bushin, lead author now at Stanford University but formerly with Scripps Oceanography, explained: “We needed a whole new approach to address this problem. Essentially, we came up with a way to trick the bacteria into making more of the material that we needed.”
By linking cell survival with pigment production, researchers were able to ensure efficient manufacturing inside bacterial cells. They further improved yields using automated evolution techniques and custom bioinformatics tools developed by co-author Adam Feist’s lab at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.
“This project gives a glimpse into a future where biology enables the sustainable production of valuable compounds and materials through advanced automation, data integration and computationally driven design,” said Feist.
Traditional approaches yield around five milligrams per liter; however, the new method produces between one to three grams per liter.
Moore believes their nature-inspired biotechnology could change how biochemicals are produced more broadly: “We’ve really disrupted the way that people think about how you engineer a cell,” he said. “Our innovative technological approach sparked a huge leap in production capability. This new method solves a supply challenge and could now make this biomaterial much more broadly available.”
Potential applications include use as dyes or UV protectants in cosmetics or photoelectronic devices; there is also interest from defense agencies regarding camouflage technology.
“As we look to the future, humans will want to rethink how we make materials to support our synthetic lifestyle of 8 billion people on Earth,” Moore added. “Thanks to federal funding, we’ve unlocked a promising new pathway for designing nature-inspired materials that are better for people and the planet.”
Other contributors included researchers from Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability (Denmark), Northeastern University, as well as various departments within UC San Diego.
