Markdown syntax coloring for less (pager)

When I use vim to edit a markdown file I have nice syntax coloring (via vim-markdown and vim-markdown-preview plug-ins).

I would like to have this same syntax coloring when I am using less (pager) to view a file. Is there a way to get less to do this syntax coloring? or is there another pager that has this functionality?

I now use, from best to worse, vimpager, pigmentize, highlight, src-hilite-lesspipe.sh, less, and then more; using bash to determine what is available on whichever system I am on. Here is what I finally arrived at:

.bash_profile:

#############################################
#   Pager                                   #
#############################################
PAGER='more'
export PAGER

if type less &> /dev/null; then
  LESS='-i -R -e -X -z-2 -M -P%t?f%f :stdin .?pb%pb\%:?lbLine %lb:?bbByte %bb:-...'
  LESSCHARSET='utf-8'
  LESSHISTFILE=-
  PAGER='less'
  MANPAGER='less'

  export LESS LESSCHARSET LESSHISTFILE PAGER MANPAGER

  export LESS_TERMCAP_so="$(tput bold; tput setaf 0; tput setab 4)"    # begin standout
  export LESS_TERMCAP_se="$(tput sgr0)"                                # end   standout
  export LESS_TERMCAP_us="$(tput smul; tput setaf 3)"                  # begin underscore
  export LESS_TERMCAP_ue="$(tput rmul; tput sgr0)"                     # end   underscore
  export LESS_TERMCAP_mr="$(tput rev)"                                 # begin reverse
  export LESS_TERMCAP_mb="$(tput blink)"                               # begin blink
  export LESS_TERMCAP_mh="$(tput dim)"                                 # begin dim
  export LESS_TERMCAP_md="$(tput bold; tput setaf 6)"                  # begin bold
  export LESS_TERMCAP_ZH="$(tput sitm)"                                # begin italics
  export LESS_TERMCAP_ZR="$(tput ritm)"                                # end   italics
  export LESS_TERMCAP_me="$(tput sgr0)"                                # end all modes

# make less more friendly for non-text input files, see lesspipe(1)
  [ -x /usr/bin/lesspipe ] && eval "$(lesspipe)"

  if type src-hilite-lesspipe.sh &> /dev/null; then
    export LESSOPEN="| src-hilite-lesspipe.sh %s"
  fi

  if type highlight &> /dev/null; then
    export LESSOPEN="| highlight --out-format=xterm256 --style=solarized-dark %s"
  fi

  if type pygmentize &> /dev/null; then
    export LESSOPEN="| pygmentize -O style=solarized-dark -f terminal256 %s"
  fi

fi

if type vimpager &> /dev/null; then
  export PAGER='vimpager'
fi

if type vimcat &> /dev/null; then
  alias v='vimcat'
fi