**Chonglong Wang, Jung-Hun Kim and Seon-Won Kim \***

Division of Applied Life Science (BK21 Plus), PMBBRC, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 660-701, Korea; E-Mails: wangchonglong@gmail.com (C.W.); cremoris2000@hotmail.com (J.-H.K.) 

**\*** Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: swkim@gnu.ac.kr; Tel.: +82-55-772-1362; Fax: +82-55-759-9363.

*Received: 14 June 2014; in revised form: 29 August 2014 / Accepted: 1 September 2014 / Published: 15 September 2014* 

**Abstract:** Carotenoids are a class of diverse pigments with important biological roles such as light capture and antioxidative activities. Many novel carotenoids have been isolated 

from marine organisms to date and have shown various utilizations as nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. In this review, we summarize the pathways and enzymes of carotenoid synthesis and discuss various modifications of marine carotenoids. The advances in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology for carotenoid production are also reviewed, in hopes that this review will promote the exploration of marine carotenoid for their utilizations. 

**Keywords:** marine carotenoids; carotenoid synthesis; carotenoid modification; metabolic engineering; synthetic biology; protein engineering 
