On Nov. 3, 2025, scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) announced they have moved one step closer to unlocking a superpower held by some of nature’s greatest “masters of disguise.”  In a study published in Nature Biotechnology, a team led by UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography describes a major breakthrough in understanding nature’s ability to camouflage, as they successfully developed a new way to produce large amounts of xanthommatin pigment. 

Octopuses, squids, cuttlefish and other animals in the cephalopod family are well known for their ability to camouflage, changing the color of their skin to blend in with the environment. This remarkable display of mimicry is made possible by complex biological processes involving xanthommatin, a natural pigment. 

Because of its color-shifting capabilities, xanthommatin has long intrigued scientists and even the military, but has proven difficult to produce and research in the lab — until now. Their nature-inspired method massively over-produced the pigmented material for the first time in a bacterium, opening new possibilities for the pigment’s use in a wide range of materials and cosmetics — from photoelectronic devices and thermal coatings to dyes and UV protectants. The new approach produces up to 1,000 times more material than traditional methods.  

The study authors said their discovery is significant, not just for understanding this unique pigment — which sheds light into the biology and chemistry of the animal kingdom — but also because the technique they used could be applied to many other chemicals, potentially helping industries move away from fossil fuel-based materials toward nature-based alternatives.

By linking the cell’s survival to the production of their target compound, the team was able to trick the microbe into creating xanthommatin. To do this, they started with a genetically engineered “sick” cell, one that could only survive if it produced both the desired pigment, along with a second chemical called formic acid. For every molecule of pigment generated, the cell also produced one molecule of formic acid. The formic acid, in turn, provides fuel for the cell’s growth, creating a self-sustaining loop that drives pigment production.

To further enhance the cells’ ability to produce the pigment, the team used robots to evolve and optimize the engineered microbes through two high-throughput adaptive laboratory evolution campaigns, which were developed by the lab of study co-author Adam Feist, professor in the Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and senior scientist at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability. The team also applied custom bioinformatics tools from the Feist Lab to identify key genetic mutations that boosted efficiency and enabled the bacteria to make the pigment directly from a single nutrient source.

While some applications for this material are far-out, the authors noted active interest from the U.S. Department of Defense and cosmetics companies. According to the researchers, collaborators are interested in exploring the material’s natural camouflage capabilities, while skincare companies are interested in using it in natural sunscreens. Other industries see potential uses ranging from color-changing household paints to environmental sensors.