That happens in nature. Octopuses, squids, and the scariest of them all, cuttlefish, in the cephalopod family have evolved the ablity to modify their skin to blend in with the environment. That is due to the presence of xanthommatin, a natural pigment with color-shifting capabilities.
Xanthommatin has long intrigued the military but is difficult to mass produce. A good result in the lab is five milligrams of pigment per liter. Researchers say they have solved that hurdle, and can produce large amounts of xanthommatin pigment, no squids needed. Using bacteria, they are able to produce up to 1,000 times more material than traditional methods. Harvesting the pigment from animals isn't really feasible while synthetic methods aren't worth the cost, but “growth coupled biosynthesis” is.
Credit: Charlotte Seid
And it led to orders of magnitude greater production; yields between one to three grams per liter.
Researchers bioengineered the chemical in a bacterium.They optimized the microbiology so bacteria made more of it, without the metabolic burden producing a foreign compound would bring without modern science.They started with a genetically engineered “sick” cell, one that could only survive if it produced both the desired pigment and formic acid. For every molecule of pigment generated, the cell also produced one molecule of formic acid. The formic acid provides fuel for the cell’s growth, creating a self-sustaining loop that drives pigment production.
If the organism makea xanthommatin, it grows. If not, it won't. By boosting the evolutionary process they were also able to target key genetic mutations that boosted efficiency and enabled the bacteria to make the pigment directly from a single nutrient source.
That is what real sustainability means.
Every group from the military, always under fire from activists, to cosmetic companies (ditto), could benefit, which is why the NIH, the private sector, and the military all participated in funding the work. Challenges remain. The FDA and EPA are in year 15 of being more opposed to science than ever so the road from basic research to applied science is long but the future belongs to biomaterials, and politicians come and go.
Citation: Bushin, L.B., Alter, T.B., Alván-Vargas, M.V.G. et al. Growth-coupled microbial biosynthesis of the animal pigment xanthommatin. Nat Biotechnol (2025). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-025-02867-7
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