"
Team:British Columbia/Objectives
From 2011.igem.org
Wet Lab
From an industrial aspect, this yeast will be cultured and harvested for monoterpenes, which will be analysed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Yeast is a highly utilized organism in industry (e.g. breweries and also the recently established Amyris biotech company that uses yeast to produce anti-Malarial therapeutics amongst other valuable compounds). We envision that monoterpene-producing yeast will not only be industrially profitable, but also help to alleviate the unsustainable consumption of nature's resources in the quest for biofuels, pharmaceuticals, flavours/fragrances etc.
From an environmental aspect, this yeast will be grown together with the bluestain fungus to determine if monoterpene-producing yeast is able to inhibit the growth of the fungus. This yeast is also a biological system that can be screened for potential targets against the fungus: for instance, since the yeast is actively producing monoterpenes, it is possible to look for yeast that have particular mutations that cause increased intolerance against monoterpenes. These mutations will reveal potential strategies against the fungus.
Monoterpene Synthases
Metabolic Genes
Modeling
Monoterpene Production in Yeast
Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic
Human Practices
Outreach at Science World
