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βâIonone: Its Occurrence and Biological Function and Metabolic Engineering
βâIonone is a natural plant volatile compound, and it is the 9,10 and 9â,10â cleavage prod-uct of βâcarotene by the carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase. βâIonone is widely distributed in flowers, fruits, and vegetables. βâIonone and other apocarotenoids comprise flavors, aromas, pigments, growth regulators, and defense compounds; serve as ecological cues; have roles as insect attractants or repellants, and have antibacterial and fungicidal properties. In recent years, βâionone has also received increased attention from the biomedical community for its potential as an anticancer treatment and for other human health benefits. However, βâionone is typically produced at relatively low levels in plants. Thus, expressing plant biosynthetic pathway genes in microbial hosts and engineering the metabolic pathway/host to increase metabolite production is an appealing alternative. In the present review, we discuss βâionone occurrence, the biological activities of βâionone, empha-sizing insect attractant/repellant activities, and the current strategies and achievements used to re-construct enzyme pathways in microorganisms in an effort to to attain higher amounts of the de-sired βâionone