Researchers at Osaka University, in collaboration with the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), RIKEN, and Chiba University have discovered a vital link in the complex biochemical pathway for saponin synthesis. Their discovery paves the way for improving the commercial production of these high-value products.
Yeast metabolically engineered to produce the medicinal tropane alkaloids [Full subscriber]
Researchers at Stanford University report the first successful microbial biosynthesis of the tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine, a class of neuromuscular blockers naturally found in plants in the nightshade family.
Amyris secures US$255 million to produce cannabidiol from cane sugar [Full subscriber]
The biotech start-up Amyris recently announced that it has teamed up with an undisclosed partner in a US$255 million deal – its largest ever – to produce CBD (cannabidiol) from cane sugar using its fermentation technology.
Researchers upgrade CRISPR technology to edit single genes in yeast with precision [Full subscriber]
Researchers at the University of Illinois have used the gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to develop a technology that can target any gene in the yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is widely used to make ethanol, pharmaceuticals and substitute petrochemicals.
Yeast cell factories produce drop-in fuels [Registered]
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden are using fatty acid synthase, or FAS, to produce sustainable alternatives to petrol and jet fuel.
Researchers create a strain of yeast that can also ferment xylose to biofuel [Registered]
Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) have found a way to nearly double the efficiency with which a commonly used industrial yeast strain converts plant sugars to biofuel. The newly engineered “super yeast” could boost the economics of making ethanol, specialty biofuels and bioproducts.
Ginkgo Bioworks bioengineers yeasts to produce fragrances and flavours [Registered]
The synthetic-biology start-up Ginkgo Bioworks. is re-engineering yeast to act as tiny organic “factories” that produce chemicals for the flavor, fragrance, and food industries, with aims of making products more quickly, cheaply, and efficiently than traditional methods.
Bioengineered yeast turns food waste fats into butanol [Registered]
Researchers at the National University of Singapore have successfully recycled food waste into butanol via engineered yeast in a laboratory. The researchers, who secured SG$300,000 (US$222,831) from Singapore’s National Environment […]
Yeast engineered to produce lipids and polymers from sugar [Registered]
The development will lead to new precursors for biofuels, specialty polymers, adhesives and fragrances.
New strain of yeast effective for waste water treatement [Registered]
The strain is said to be effective against nitro compounds which are used in explosives, herbicides, insecticides, polymers, dyes, and some medications. The research was conducted with the use of widely known trinitrotoluene (TNT).
Monthly Snapshot
Raw sugar for March delivery settled at 19.82 cents/pound on January 18 after reaching a two-and-a-half-week high earlier in the session at 20.25 cents. The white sugar contract expiring in […]
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