Science Services
From R & D Services
-
Most popular related searches
For the past two decades, genetic engineering tech...
For the past two decades, genetic engineering technologies have allowed the increase of production level of molecules naturally occurring in very small quantities. By enhancing naturally occurring metabolic pathways, these technologies thereby open up new ways to bio-produce numerous compounds of industrial relevance. Several industrial compounds such as amino-acids for animal feed, biodegradable plastics or textile fibers are now routinely produced using genetically modified organisms.
However, no bio-processes using micro-organisms are in place for the production of the key petrochemicals that are light olefins (notably propylene, isobutene, and butadiene), since no micro-organisms are known to be natural producers of olefins even in small quantities. Therefore, without a micro-organism as a starting point, the conventional genetic engineering techniques cannot be applied. The breakthrough innovation delivered by Global Bioenergies has resulted in the overcoming of this limitation and has enabled the Company to address the opportunities that the main petrochemical markets represent.
The concept is to create artificial metabolic pathways consisting of a series of previously unknown enzymatic activities leading to the synthesis of metabolic intermediates that are not observed in nature. This new approach, termed “synthetic biology,” is an emerging scientific field focusing on the ex nihilo generation of biological objects using new concepts in enzymology and metabolic engineering.
A first major success has been obtained with the isobutene bio-production process. This major achievement has required that several enzymes be modified so that they each catalyze a specific reaction of the artificial metabolic pathway. Subsequently, these enzymes have been integrated into a bacterium which was then shown to be able to convert sugar into isobutene in vivo. The conversion yield is now being continuously improved using standard genetic engineering tools. The same approach is now being applied to the Company’s other programs dedicated to the production of butadiene and propylene.
This world breakthrough opens new perspectives for industrial biology and is expected to replace traditional chemical processes. Beyond its intrinsic industrial value, the validation of this new approach opens a door to new possibilities in the field of bio-fuels and bio-chemicals – a field of increasing global importance in this century.
Customer reviews
No reviews were found for Science Services. Be the first to review!