Synthetic biology (Tom 2)

Question 1

what was Synthia?

Answer 1

First synthetic genome creation

Question 2

What did the creation of Synthia teach us?

Answer 2

minimal mutagenesis and legacy knowledge not enough to design genome.

Question 3

why is synthetic metabolism needed for artemisinin production?

Answer 3

sweet worm wood take 6-8 month from seed to harvest.
demand for artemisinin high, and yield varies causing high costs.

Question 4

How was artemisinin first synthetically engineered ( Ro et al)

Answer 4

-Engineering of mevalonate pathway into yeast.
-engineer farnesyl PP (FPP) to increase production of this.
- Introduced an amorpha-diene synthases gene (APS) to convert FPP to amorpha 4,11- diene synthase.
-Cytochrome P450 cloned into the pathway to convert amorpha 4,11- diene synthase into artemsinic acid through a 3 step oxidation process

Question 5

how did Paddon et al improve on artemisinin

Answer 5

Decreased squalen production in mevalonate pathway by replacing promoters.
expressed 5 enzymes into yeast resulting in increased artemisinic acid production

Question 6

what are biofules

Answer 6

Ethanol: yeast fermentation of sugar
Methyl esters: derived from the chemical conversion of animal fats and plant oils.

Question 7

whats the cyanobacterial pathway?

Answer 7

1st enzyme: removes acyl carrier protein to convert chain to aldehyde
2nd enzyme: convert chain to alkane/alkene 1 C shorter than original length

Question 8

how do the luxCDE complex work

Answer 8

Engineer into biofuel pathway
removes 1st enzyme step
allows for branched molecules and chains.

Question 9

whats the CETCH pathway

Answer 9

path for CO2 capture