Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Dye or die: bacterium forced to make pigment to stay alive

A bioproduction method that ties compound synthesis to bacterial survival could be used to mass-produce natural products.
Close-up of a common octopus underwater, camouflaged beige and brown to match the sea floor

Many octopus species exploit the pigment xanthommatin to aid in camouflaging. Credit: Jose B. Ruiz/Nature Picture Library

With the right genetic tweaks, a bacterium can be turned into a miniature factory that produces large quantities of a colour-changing pigment commonly found in nature1.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 647, 562 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03663-8

References

  1. Bushin, L. B. et al. Nature Biotechnol. http://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02867-7 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links