I-Corps: Commercialization of robust, reliable production platforms for high value terpenes

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是将可再生和无害环境的异戊二烯(特别是三萜类)化合物生产实践的创新平台从实验室/示范规模转化为市场。目标三萜类化合物有许多潜在的用途：作为免疫佐剂、人类或动物营养补充剂、食用油稳定剂、高转数机器润滑剂，以及作为目前只能从石化原料中获得的特殊化学品的替代品。这些生产平台包括植物发酵供应链和微生物发酵供应链，以满足不同的客户/客户需求。这些新的生产方法旨在满足市场对非动物生产的高质量角鲨烯和角鲨烯类化合物的日益增长的需求。这个i-Corps项目依靠独特的合成生物学方法来设计植物和可发酵真菌中新化学物质的生物合成和积累。这些基因工程策略利用具有特定基因组编辑的酵母株系，以允许积累大量的三萜。同样，已经开发出转基因植物品系，它们在种子和其他容易收获和储存的组织中积累了大量的这些化合物。总而言之，这些平台提供了一种环境无害的替代方案，取代了目前从鲨鱼肝脏或生长缓慢的藻类培养中分离这些化合物的不可持续的做法。虽然大多数转基因植物提供了增值特性(如防虫或抗除草剂)，但这里的方法是专门生产高价值的化学物质，这些化学物质以前仅限于自然来源或在昂贵的发酵设施中生产。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the translation of innovative platforms for renewable and environmentally-sound production practices for isoprenoid (specifically, triterpenoid) compounds from laboratory/demonstration scale to the marketplace. The target triterpenoids have many potential uses: in vaccines as immunogenic adjuvants, human or animal nutritional supplements, cooking oil stabilizers, high revolution machine lubricants, and as replacements for specialty chemicals currently only available from petrochemical feedstocks. These production platforms include plant-based as well as microbial fermentation supply chains to meet diverse client/customer needs. These new production methods are designed to meet a growing market need for non-animal produced, high-quality squalene and squalene-like compounds.This I-Corps project relies upon unique Synthetic Biology approaches to engineer the biosynthesis and accumulation of novel chemicals in plants and fermentable fungi. These genetic engineering strategies utilize yeast lines which have specific genome edits to allow the accumulation of high amounts of triterpenes. Similarly, genetically modified plant lines have been developed which accumulate high amounts of these compounds in seeds and other easily harvested and stored tissues. Together, these platforms provide an environmentally sound alternative to the current, unsustainable practices of isolating these compounds from shark livers or slow-growing algae cultures. While most genetically modified plants provide value-added traits (such as insect protection or herbicide resistance), this approach here is to specifically produce high-value chemicals that have been previously limited to natural sources or produced in costly fermentation facilities.