Discovery of a natural cyan blue: A unique food-sourced anthocyanin could replace synthetic brilliant blue

Pamela R. Denish; Julie Anne Fenger; Randall Powers; Gregory T. Sigurdson; Luca Grisanti; Kathryn G. Guggenheim; Sara Laporte; Julia Li; Tadao Kondo; Alessandra Magistrato; Mícheál P. Moloney; Mary Riley; Mariami Rusishvili; Neda Ahmadiani; Stefano Baroni; Olivier Dangles; Monica Giusti; Thomas M. Collins; John Didzbalis; Kumi Yoshida; Justin B. Siegel; Rebecca J. Robbins

doi:10.1126/SCIADV.ABE7871

Discovery of a natural cyan blue: A unique food-sourced anthocyanin could replace synthetic brilliant blue

Pamela R. Denish, Julie Anne Fenger, Randall Powers, Gregory T. Sigurdson, Luca Grisanti, Kathryn G. Guggenheim, Sara Laporte, Julia Li, Tadao Kondo, Alessandra Magistrato, Mícheál P. Moloney, Mary Riley, Mariami Rusishvili, Neda Ahmadiani, Stefano Baroni, Olivier Dangles, Monica Giusti, Thomas M. Collins, John Didzbalis, Kumi Yoshida^*Justin B. Siegel^*, Rebecca J. Robbins^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

52 Scopus citations

Abstract

The color of food is critical to the food and beverage industries, as it influences many properties beyond eye-pleasing visuals including flavor, safety, and nutritional value. Blue is one of the rarest colors in nature’s food palette—especially a cyan blue—giving scientists few sources for natural blue food colorants. Finding a natural cyan blue dye equivalent to FD&C Blue No. 1 remains an industry-wide challenge and the subject of several research programs worldwide. Computational simulations and large-array spectroscopic techniques were used to determine the 3D chemical structure, color expression, and stability of this previously uncharacterized cyan blue anthocyanin-based colorant. Synthetic biology and computational protein design tools were leveraged to develop an enzymatic transformation of red cabbage anthocyanins into the desired anthocyanin. More broadly, this research demonstrates the power of a multidisciplinary strategy to solve a long-standing challenge in the food industry.

Original language	English
Article number	eabe7871
Journal	Science advances
Volume	7
Issue number	15
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/SCIADV.ABE7871
State	Published - 7 Apr 2021
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved.

Funding

Funders	Funder number
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science	18H02146
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences	P42ES004699
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme	676598
National Institute of General Medical Sciences	R01GM076324
National Science Foundation	1827246, 1805510

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Denish, P. R., Fenger, J. A., Powers, R., Sigurdson, G. T., Grisanti, L., Guggenheim, K. G., Laporte, S., Li, J., Kondo, T., Magistrato, A., Moloney, M. P., Riley, M., Rusishvili, M., Ahmadiani, N., Baroni, S., Dangles, O., Giusti, M., Collins, T. M., Didzbalis, J., ... Robbins, R. J. (2021). Discovery of a natural cyan blue: A unique food-sourced anthocyanin could replace synthetic brilliant blue. Science advances, 7(15), Article eabe7871. https://doi.org/10.1126/SCIADV.ABE7871

@article{94ddfef8f0354da7bb187e4e9f047698,

title = "Discovery of a natural cyan blue: A unique food-sourced anthocyanin could replace synthetic brilliant blue",

abstract = "The color of food is critical to the food and beverage industries, as it influences many properties beyond eye-pleasing visuals including flavor, safety, and nutritional value. Blue is one of the rarest colors in nature{\textquoteright}s food palette—especially a cyan blue—giving scientists few sources for natural blue food colorants. Finding a natural cyan blue dye equivalent to FD\&C Blue No. 1 remains an industry-wide challenge and the subject of several research programs worldwide. Computational simulations and large-array spectroscopic techniques were used to determine the 3D chemical structure, color expression, and stability of this previously uncharacterized cyan blue anthocyanin-based colorant. Synthetic biology and computational protein design tools were leveraged to develop an enzymatic transformation of red cabbage anthocyanins into the desired anthocyanin. More broadly, this research demonstrates the power of a multidisciplinary strategy to solve a long-standing challenge in the food industry.",

author = "Denish, \{Pamela R.\} and Fenger, \{Julie Anne\} and Randall Powers and Sigurdson, \{Gregory T.\} and Luca Grisanti and Guggenheim, \{Kathryn G.\} and Sara Laporte and Julia Li and Tadao Kondo and Alessandra Magistrato and Moloney, \{M{\'i}che{\'a}l P.\} and Mary Riley and Mariami Rusishvili and Neda Ahmadiani and Stefano Baroni and Olivier Dangles and Monica Giusti and Collins, \{Thomas M.\} and John Didzbalis and Kumi Yoshida and Siegel, \{Justin B.\} and Robbins, \{Rebecca J.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved.",

year = "2021",

month = apr,

day = "7",

doi = "10.1126/SCIADV.ABE7871",

language = "English",

volume = "7",

journal = "Science advances",

issn = "2375-2548",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

number = "15",

}

Denish, PR, Fenger, JA, Powers, R, Sigurdson, GT, Grisanti, L, Guggenheim, KG, Laporte, S, Li, J, Kondo, T, Magistrato, A, Moloney, MP, Riley, M, Rusishvili, M, Ahmadiani, N, Baroni, S, Dangles, O, Giusti, M, Collins, TM, Didzbalis, J, Yoshida, K, Siegel, JB & Robbins, RJ 2021, 'Discovery of a natural cyan blue: A unique food-sourced anthocyanin could replace synthetic brilliant blue', Science advances, vol. 7, no. 15, eabe7871. https://doi.org/10.1126/SCIADV.ABE7871

TY - JOUR

T1 - Discovery of a natural cyan blue

T2 - A unique food-sourced anthocyanin could replace synthetic brilliant blue

AU - Denish, Pamela R.

AU - Fenger, Julie Anne

AU - Powers, Randall

AU - Sigurdson, Gregory T.

AU - Grisanti, Luca

AU - Guggenheim, Kathryn G.

AU - Laporte, Sara

AU - Li, Julia

AU - Kondo, Tadao

AU - Magistrato, Alessandra

AU - Moloney, Mícheál P.

AU - Riley, Mary

AU - Rusishvili, Mariami

AU - Ahmadiani, Neda

AU - Baroni, Stefano

AU - Dangles, Olivier

AU - Giusti, Monica

AU - Collins, Thomas M.

AU - Didzbalis, John

AU - Yoshida, Kumi

AU - Siegel, Justin B.

AU - Robbins, Rebecca J.

PY - 2021/4/7

Y1 - 2021/4/7

N2 - The color of food is critical to the food and beverage industries, as it influences many properties beyond eye-pleasing visuals including flavor, safety, and nutritional value. Blue is one of the rarest colors in nature’s food palette—especially a cyan blue—giving scientists few sources for natural blue food colorants. Finding a natural cyan blue dye equivalent to FD&C Blue No. 1 remains an industry-wide challenge and the subject of several research programs worldwide. Computational simulations and large-array spectroscopic techniques were used to determine the 3D chemical structure, color expression, and stability of this previously uncharacterized cyan blue anthocyanin-based colorant. Synthetic biology and computational protein design tools were leveraged to develop an enzymatic transformation of red cabbage anthocyanins into the desired anthocyanin. More broadly, this research demonstrates the power of a multidisciplinary strategy to solve a long-standing challenge in the food industry.

AB - The color of food is critical to the food and beverage industries, as it influences many properties beyond eye-pleasing visuals including flavor, safety, and nutritional value. Blue is one of the rarest colors in nature’s food palette—especially a cyan blue—giving scientists few sources for natural blue food colorants. Finding a natural cyan blue dye equivalent to FD&C Blue No. 1 remains an industry-wide challenge and the subject of several research programs worldwide. Computational simulations and large-array spectroscopic techniques were used to determine the 3D chemical structure, color expression, and stability of this previously uncharacterized cyan blue anthocyanin-based colorant. Synthetic biology and computational protein design tools were leveraged to develop an enzymatic transformation of red cabbage anthocyanins into the desired anthocyanin. More broadly, this research demonstrates the power of a multidisciplinary strategy to solve a long-standing challenge in the food industry.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85103998174

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DO - 10.1126/SCIADV.ABE7871

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AN - SCOPUS:85103998174

SN - 2375-2548

VL - 7

JO - Science advances

JF - Science advances

IS - 15

M1 - eabe7871

ER -

Discovery of a natural cyan blue: A unique food-sourced anthocyanin could replace synthetic brilliant blue

Abstract

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