Team:Vanderbilt/Project

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<td><h3> Introduction </h3>
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The production of plant essential oils and their derivatives represents an over 9 billion dollar industry when considering just their applications in the food and fragrance industries <sup>1</sup>. A staggering 23 million kilograms of citrus oil alone are produced worldwide each year. Up until only a couple decades ago, the production of these essential oils was done exclusively by chemical extraction from plant material. However, the sudden emergence of synthetic biology a versatile and efficient tool has the potential to transform this immense industry, the products of which nearly everyone will come in contact with on a daily basis.
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By harnessing existing biosynthetic pathways and introducing enzymes taken from plants into more maleable model systems, it will be possible to significantly improve on current methods of the active components of essential oils, most notably the terpenoids. While most plants express terpenes in the range of parts per million and thus require very large scale operations to be commercially viable, early forays into the biological production of terpenes have proven that it is possible to improve yields 100-fold <sup>2</sup>. The first aspect of our project involves using the great potential of synthetic biology to design a commercially-viable strategy for the production of any class of terpenoid.
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Just as important to the economic benefit of this approach is its environment benefit. With chemical terpene extraction being such a relatively inefficient process, it is necessary to process large amounts of plant material to get a substantive yield. This may not pose as significant of an issue for citrus growers, but
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1. USDA Industrial Uses Reports. Essential Oils Widely Used in Flavors and Fragrances. September 1995.
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2. Ajikumar PK, Tyo K, Carlsen S, Mucha O, Phon TH, Stephanopoulos G. Terpenoids: opportunities for biosynthesis of natural product drugs using engineered microorganisms. Mol Pharm. 2008;5(2):167-90.
<h3> Project Goals </h3>
<h3> Project Goals </h3>

Revision as of 00:51, 16 October 2014




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Introduction


Introduction


The production of plant essential oils and their derivatives represents an over 9 billion dollar industry when considering just their applications in the food and fragrance industries 1. A staggering 23 million kilograms of citrus oil alone are produced worldwide each year. Up until only a couple decades ago, the production of these essential oils was done exclusively by chemical extraction from plant material. However, the sudden emergence of synthetic biology a versatile and efficient tool has the potential to transform this immense industry, the products of which nearly everyone will come in contact with on a daily basis.
By harnessing existing biosynthetic pathways and introducing enzymes taken from plants into more maleable model systems, it will be possible to significantly improve on current methods of the active components of essential oils, most notably the terpenoids. While most plants express terpenes in the range of parts per million and thus require very large scale operations to be commercially viable, early forays into the biological production of terpenes have proven that it is possible to improve yields 100-fold 2. The first aspect of our project involves using the great potential of synthetic biology to design a commercially-viable strategy for the production of any class of terpenoid. Just as important to the economic benefit of this approach is its environment benefit. With chemical terpene extraction being such a relatively inefficient process, it is necessary to process large amounts of plant material to get a substantive yield. This may not pose as significant of an issue for citrus growers, but 1. USDA Industrial Uses Reports. Essential Oils Widely Used in Flavors and Fragrances. September 1995. 2. Ajikumar PK, Tyo K, Carlsen S, Mucha O, Phon TH, Stephanopoulos G. Terpenoids: opportunities for biosynthesis of natural product drugs using engineered microorganisms. Mol Pharm. 2008;5(2):167-90.

Project Goals

Sage plant, <i>Salvia officinalis</i>, growing in the Vanderbilt greenhouse Salvia officinalis, growing in the Vanderbilt greenhouse