Synthetic biology--drugs and biofuels

At the q-bio Conference (see my post from yesterday), we heard a really interesting talk from Tim Gardner of Amyris Biotechnologies, a new company devoted to synthetic biology--engineering new organisms that do cool and useful stuff. They have two projects going on right now that involve engineering E. coli bacteria to produce compounds called terpenoids.

One compound that they've successfully produced in bacteria is an anti-malarial drug called artemisinin. Artemisinin is found in nature in wormwood plants. But extracting and purifying artemisinin from this natural source is very expensive--much too expensive for people in the developing world to afford. So scientists led by Jay Keasling at Berkeley have engineered E. coli to produce artemisinin by sticking several genes from the wormwood plant into the bacteria. Amyris scientists are now working to commercialize this technology to produce low-cost anti-malaria drugs for people in developing countries.

Amyris is also engineering bacteria to produce other terpenoids that can be made into a type of fuel called biodiesel. Many people are interested in using biodiesel as a renewable alternative to fossil fuels, especially with concerns about global warming and energy security. Amyris researchers are doing metabolic engineering to try to maximize the amount of biodiesel that their bacteria produce. They plan on beginning large-scale production soon.

What was especially exciting for me about Tim Gardner's presentation was the idea that we may be able to use mathematical modeling to help us design better biofuel-producing bacteria. His team of scientists at Amyris are developing mathematical models of gene networks and biochemical reactions inside the bacteria. They hope to use these models to predict what genetic modifications to the bacteria will make them produce more biofuel. If successful, mathematical modeling may allow Amyris researchers to test their ideas in silico (on computers) before trying to implement them in the real world. This would be less expensive, and it might also lead to new ideas.