A marine-inspired sunscreen ingredient made by E. coli

How do fish survive relentless sunlight in the open waters without getting burned? They make their own natural sunscreen—and now, humans could be one step closer to using it too. 

Reporting in the Cell Press journal Trends in Biotechnology, researchers engineered microbial “cell factories” to sustainably produce the UV-protective compound gadusol, which could eventually serve as a sunscreen ingredient and an antioxidant additive. 

Gadusol, found in the eggs of various fish and other marine organisms, helps protect against ultraviolet damage. However, “it is scarce in nature, and extracting it is inefficient and can carry environmental costs,” says lead author Ping Zhang of Jiangnan University, China. “We want to find a scalable and greener way to produce gadusol.” 

Instead of harvesting the molecule from nature, the team turned microbes into mini chemical factories. They rebuilt a zebrafish’s pathway for making gadusol inside the bacterium Escherichia coli, then tweaked the microbes’ genetics and growing conditions. These modifications increased gadusol yield by nearly 93 times, from 45.2 milligrams per liter to 4.2 grams per liter. The lab-made compound also showed promise in preliminary UV-protection tests. 

“Achieving this level of production in the lab is very promising,” says Zhang. “It suggests that we may be able to meet future demand for natural sunscreen ingredients through microbial production.” 

The compound may offer more than just sun protection. In experiments, gadusol showed antioxidant activity comparable to that of vitamin C, suggesting it may help neutralize cell-damaging free radicals from UV exposure. 

That same antioxidant property also inspired a useful shortcut: a color-based screening test. In the test, a purple chemical signal turns yellow when gadusol neutralizes free radicals. This color shift allows researchers to quickly identify bacterial strains that produce more of the compound. 

“Compared with traditional chemical analysis, this approach is more convenient, efficient, and economical,” says senior author Ruirui Xu of Jiangnan University.  

The research comes amid growing interest in alternatives to some conventional sunscreen ingredients, which can irritate sensitive skin, harm marine organisms, or rely on petrochemicals. Gadusol’s combination of UV protection and antioxidant activity could make it an attractive ingredient for sunscreens and skin-care products. 

But gadusol won’t make it into our beach bags just yet. The study did not compare gadusol head-to-head with commercial sunscreens, nor assess long-term safety or large-scale manufacturing. Regulatory approval would also be needed. 

Still, Xu believes that the research provides a starting point for moving gadusol toward practical applications. Based on current technology, he expects to start seeing some products appear on the market within two years.  

“For small molecules with application potential, we hope people look beyond traditional extraction methods,” says Zhang. “Microbial cell factories are emerging as a greener and more sustainable way to bring laboratory discoveries into real-world use.” 

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This work was supported by funding from the National Key Research and Development Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program of CPSF (China Postdoctoral Science Foundation), the Jiangsu Basic Research Center for Synthetic Biology, and the Guangdong S&T Program. 

Trends in Biotechnology, Zhang et al., “Multidimensionally engineered Escherichia coli for efficient gadusol biosynthesis with high-throughput quantitative analysis” https://www.cell.com/trends/biotechnology/fulltext/S0167-7799(26)00098-3

Trends in Biotechnology (@TrendsinBiotech) is a multi-disciplinary Cell Press journal publishing original research and reviews on exciting developments in biotechnology, with the option to publish open access. This journal is a leading global platform for discussion of significant and transformative concepts across applied life sciences that examine bio-based solutions to real-world problems. Trends in Biotechnology provides cutting-edge research that breaks new ground and reviews that provide insights into the future direction of the field, giving the reader a novel point of view. Visit https://www.cell.com/trends/biotechnology. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.