Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops，Ministry of Agriculture，Institute of Vegetables and Ｆlowers，Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences，Beijing 100081，China
Abstract：Lycopene is one of the important natural pigments，which is mainly derived from plant fruits and microorganisms．The metabolic pathway of lycopene has been clarified and many related genes have been cloned．Therefore it is possible to improve the lycopene yield by genetic engineering technology．In this paper，the latest research progress related to genes in lycopene biosynthesis，their application in microorganism gene engineering and plant gene engineering were reviewed．The paper also discussed the research orientation for further improving lycopene production in the future．
