APPLICATION OF METABOLIC ENGINEERING IN THE PRODUCTION PLANT SECONDARY METABOLITES AND PROMOTING GREEN CHEMISTRY
Presented By, Dipti Singh [Link] (Biotech) 1st Year
INTRODUCTION
Metabolic Engineering is the practice of optimizing genetic and regulatory processes within cells
to increase the cells' production of a certain substance.
These processes are chemical networks that use a series of biochemical reactions and enzymes that allow cells to convert raw materials into molecules necessary for the cells survival.
The ultimate goal of metabolic engineering is to be able to use these organisms to produce valuable substances on an industrial scale in a cost effective manner. producing beer, wine, cheese, pharmaceuticals and
Current examples include other biotechnology products.
Secondary metabolites are organic compounds that normal growth, development, or reproduction of an organism
are
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THE CLASSES OF SECONDARY METABOLITES The majority of secondary metabolites belong to one of a number of families, each of which have particular structural characteristics arising from the way in which they are built up in nature (biosynthesis). The classes of secondary metabolites are: Polyketides and fatty acids Terpenoids and steroids Phenylpropanoids Alkaloids Others (specialize amino acids and carbohydrates)
METABOLIC ENGINEERING OF SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE FOR PRODUCTION OF FATTY ACID-DERIVED BIOFUELS AND CHEMICALS. As the serious effects of global climate change become apparent and access to fossil fuels becomes more limited, metabolic engineers and synthetic biologists are looking towards greener sources for transportation fuels. In recent years, microbial production of high-energy fuels by economically efficient bioprocesses has emerged as an attractive alternative to the traditional production of transportation fuels.
So, the researchers engineered the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce fatty acid-derived biofuels and chemicals from simple sugars. Specifically, they overexpressed all three fatty acid biosynthesis genes, namely acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC1), fatty acid synthase 1 (FAS1) and fatty acid synthase 2 (FAS2), in S. cerevisiae with the application of metabolic engineering. When coupled to triacylglycerol (TAG) production, the engineered strain accumulated lipid to more than 17% of its dry cell weight, a four-fold improvement over the control strain.
Understanding that TAG cannot be used directly as fuels, we also engineered S. cerevisiae to produce drop-in fuels and chemicals.
Altering the terminal "converting enzyme" in the engineered strain led to the production of free fatty acids at a titer of approximately 400mg/L, fatty alcohols at approximately 100mg/L and fatty acid ethyl esters (biodiesel) at approximately 5mg/L directly from simple sugars.
METABOLIC ENGINEERING TO INCREASE ISOFLAVONE BIOSYNTHESIS IN SOYBEAN SEED
Isoflavone levels in Glycine max (soybean) were increased via metabolic engineering of the complex phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway. Phenylpropanoid pathway genes were activated by expression of the maize C1 and R transcription factors in soybean seed, which decreased genistein and increased the daidzein levels with a small overall increase in total isoflavone levels. Cosuppression of flavanone 3-hydroxylase to block the anthocyanin branch of the pathway, in conjunction with C1/R expression, resulted in higher levels of isoflavones.
The combination of transcription factor-driven gene activation and suppression of a competing pathway provided a successful means of enhancing accumulation of isoflavones in soybean seed.
CONTRIBUTION OF METABOLIC ENGINEERING IN PROMOTING GREEN CHEMISTRY
WHAT IS GREEN CHEMISTRY? Saving energy, cost efficiency, producing less waste, improving the biodegradability of products, potential for producing novel and complex molecules with improved properties, and reducing the dependency on fossil fuels as raw materials are the main advantages of using biotechnological processes to produce chemicals. Such processes are often referred to as GREEN CHEMISTRY OR WHITE BIOTECHNOLOGY.
HOW METABOLIC ENGINEERING IS PROMOTING GREEN CHEMISTRY?
Cell factories are extensively applied to produce many specific molecules that are used as pharmaceutical, fine chemicals, fuels, materials and food ingrediets. There is much focus on the production of recombinant proteins, with a current market value exceeding 40 billion US$, but the market for small molecules is larger and is expected to grow faster in the future.
The main driving force behind this growth is directed genetic modifications of cell factories- an approach refferd to as metabolic engineering.
METABOLIC ENGINEERING enables the development of novel and effiecient bioprocess that are enviornmentally friendly, and makes use of cell factories to produce novel compounds that are difficult to produce by organic chemical synthesis. Many top-selling drugs are natural products-they acounted for approximately 40% of the top twenty drugs. Therfore, classical chemical synthesis is increasingly being replaced by biotech process; indeed the department of engery in the USA has predicted that the market size of biotech-derived small molecules will exceed 100 billion US$ in 2014 and 400 billion US$ in 2030, and will then represent about 50% of the market for organic molecules. Another report from McKinsey and company predicts that upto 20% of all organic chemicals will be produced via biotechnological route by 2015.
