Recently, the research team of the University of Texas at Austin has developed a new and cost-effective method for synthesizing and synthesizing triallyl lactone (TAL), a renewable platform chemical that can be used in Industrial production of innovative drugs and sustainable plastics, research findings published in the latest "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."
The study, led by Hal Alper, a professor of chemical engineering at Cockerell College of Engineering, led to the new method of genetically engineering Yarrowia lipolytica to increase the yield of polyketide TAL at a level far behind Beyond the current biological approach, researchers reconstituted the metabolic pathway in yeast through synthetic biology and genetic engineering, ultimately increasing production capacity by 10-fold, enabling polyketides to be produced in large quantities and used in various industrial innovations application.
Polyketides are an important class of naturally derived molecules that can be used to make many useful products such as nutritional additives, specialty polymers, pigments, and pharmaceuticals.There are currently over 20 drugs from polyketides on the market, including immunosuppression Agents, statins and antimicrobials.Currently, the synthesis of polyketides is limited by the reaction conditions, which limits their practical application based on consumer and industrial needs.Especially most of the existing technologies have limited production and lead to the difficulty of chemical synthesis And the economy is poor. The team's breakthrough is expected to change the situation.
Using this new method, researchers were able to purify TAL directly from the bioreactor to create a new plastic material that appears as an orange, transparent film that demonstrates the team's strength in metabolic engineering , Researchers hope to open up new products and industrial opportunities in the chemical and pharmaceutical fields to create a renewable solution for the traditional chemical manufacturing industry.At present, the technical commercialization office of the university has filed a U.S. patent application for the technology and is trying its best to strive for global Patents, while seeking commercial partners who are interested in increasing the productivity of polyketides or in the manufacture of new materials and new products.