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

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是将类异戊二烯（特别是三萜）化合物的可再生和环保生产实践的创新平台从实验室/示范规模转化为市场。目标三萜类化合物具有许多潜在用途：在疫苗中作为免疫原性佐剂、人或动物营养补充剂、食用油稳定剂、高转速机器润滑剂，以及作为目前仅可从石化原料获得的特种化学品的替代品。这些生产平台包括植物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品质角鲨烯和角鲨烯类化合物日益增长的需求。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型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系，以允许积累大量的三萜。类似地，已经开发了在种子和其他容易收获和储存的组织中积累大量这些化合物的遗传修饰的植物品系。总之，这些平台为目前从鲨鱼肝脏或生长缓慢的藻类培养物中分离这些化合物的不可持续的做法提供了一种环保的替代方案。虽然大多数转基因植物提供增值特性（如昆虫保护或除草剂抗性），但这种方法是专门生产以前仅限于天然来源或在昂贵的发酵设施中生产的高价值化学品。

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.