Abstract:

Carotenoids are the most prevalent natural products. Horticultural crops are principal dietary sources of carotenoids，thus，the innovation of new germplasm packed with carotenoids becomes one of the long term focus for breeding goals. In this review，recent progress on precursor，linear carotenoids，cyclic carotenoids biosynthesis and other metabolism pathways were reviewed. Furthermore，the modulations of carotenoid production were divided into three levels：The direct regulation on structural genes in the biosynthetic pathway；The regulation through effects of transcription factors；The post- transcriptional control and the source-sink regulation. The transcription factors that directly involved in carotenoid biosynthesis and ripening process related but indirectly altered carotenoids profiles were also reviewed. It is believed that more new genes，transcription factors or modulations was to be discovered in the near future.

Key words: horticultural crop, carotenoid biosynthesis, regulation, transcription factors