My research project for the summer involves natural production in E. coli. My main focus is trying to engineer the metabolic pathway in E. coli bacteria so that the microbes produce terpenoids (also known as terpenes), and then try to scale the production up to (hopefully) high levels. Terpenoids are a class of compounds that are very diverse; they are of interest because of their possible uses in pharmaceuticals and as biofuels. For example, artemisinin, which can be synthesized from amorphadiene (a terpenoid), is undergoing investigation as an anticancer agent. Furthermore, bisabolane, a derivative of the terpenoid bisabolene, is a promising biofuel.
For my specific project, I am working on the production of four particular terpenoids: humulene, limonene, amorphadiene, and bisabolene. Limonene is noted for its aromatic, citrus scent, but it is also a precursor to perillyl alcohol, which also has possible anticancer properties. Humelene is under investigation as an anti-inflammatory aid.
Another part of my project is to use an algorithm (conveniently available and easily usable online) called BLAST to look at the particular genes for the terpene synthases that I am using, and see if there are any previously unidentified genes in plants or even bacteria that display similarities. This may possibly indicate a gene that codes for a novel terpene synthase, which could possibly produce a new terpenoid in general.
My project relates closely to the work that is done in my lab as a whole. Many of the other projects in the lab involve large-scale production of certain metabolites, such as 3-hydroxypropionic acid amongst others, in E. coli as well. Other projects involve discovering what combination of genes and promoters optimize natural production.
Overall, I am very excited to be working on this project, and cannot wait to see where my research will end up at the end of this program.
