Indole is a signalling molecule produced both by bacteria and plants. In this review its signalling role between microbes and in particular in the human gut is discussed. Besides the natural roles, indole also has value for flavour and fragrance applications, for example, in food industry or perfumery. Additionally, indole can be derivatized to several halogenated and oxygenated compounds that can be used as natural colourants or have promising bioactivity with therapeutic potential to treat human diseases. Indole is traditionally obtained from coal tar. Biocatalytic approaches have been developed to convert indole into halogenated and oxygenated derivatives. This review will discuss recent advances in production of indole from glucose or tryptophan by fermentation and the production of derived halogenated and oxygenated derivatives by microbial cell factories.

吲哚是细菌和植物产生的信号分子。在这篇综述中，讨论了它在微生物之间，特别是在人类肠道中的信号传导作用。除了天然作用外，吲哚还具有香料和香料应用的价值，例如在食品工业或香水中。此外，吲哚可以衍生成几种卤代和含氧化合物，这些化合物可用作天然着色剂或具有治疗人类疾病的潜在生物活性。吲哚传统上是从煤焦油中获得的。已经开发出生物催化方法将吲哚转化为卤化和氧化衍生物。本综述将讨论通过发酵从葡萄糖或色氨酸生产吲哚以及通过微生物细胞工厂生产衍生的卤化和含氧衍生物的最新进展。