Team:Vanderbilt/Project
From 2014.igem.org
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The best example of this idea behind our project can be seen in the gene for santalene synthase. The only species know to have genes to produce this terpene are found in remote regions of India and Australia, and one of them is listed as a vulnerable species by the IUCN. The trees can live for hundreds of years, but are the target of widespread over-exploitation, to the point that, for example, the Indian government has banned the export of sandalwood. Synthetic biology can produce the exact same active ingredients of sandalwood oil in a way that is both more economically and environmentally sound. | The best example of this idea behind our project can be seen in the gene for santalene synthase. The only species know to have genes to produce this terpene are found in remote regions of India and Australia, and one of them is listed as a vulnerable species by the IUCN. The trees can live for hundreds of years, but are the target of widespread over-exploitation, to the point that, for example, the Indian government has banned the export of sandalwood. Synthetic biology can produce the exact same active ingredients of sandalwood oil in a way that is both more economically and environmentally sound. | ||
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- | In order for our idea to truly be applicable to exotic and endangered species of plant, we had to take an approach that was quite different from the one most iGEM teams have historically taken. What we were looking for was a quick, inexpensive method of cloning genes that was also compatible with species that have not had their entire genomes sequenced. Often, iGEM teams resort to synthesizing their genes through third parties. However, this can be fairly costly especially given the moderately large size of many of these synthase genes, may take several weeks or even a month to finish synthesizing, and cannot be done unless the gene's sequence is known in its entirety. | + | In order for our idea to truly be applicable to exotic and endangered species of plant, we had to take an approach that was quite different from the one most iGEM teams have historically taken. What we were looking for was a quick, inexpensive method of cloning genes that was also compatible with species that have not had their entire genomes sequenced. Often, iGEM teams resort to synthesizing their genes through third parties. However, this can be fairly costly especially given the moderately large size of many of these synthase genes, may take several weeks or even a month to finish synthesizing, and cannot be done unless the gene's sequence is known in its entirety. By going back to basics and taking raw plants as our source material, we were able to avoid these issues and demonstrated how our approach was a practically viable one. |
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Revision as of 02:57, 16 October 2014
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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.
References: 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
MOVE ALL RESULTS in terp table to table with column checking if plant successfully grown, genomic DNA successfully extracted, synthase gene successfully PCR isolated, plant RNA successfully extracted, synthase gene cDNA successfully reverse transcribed, gene successfully mutagenized, gene successfully expressed in E. coli or Yeast
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