Biotechnological sesquiterpenes

Biotechnological Production of Monoterpenes, Sesquiterpenes, Diterpenes, Triterpenes, and Tetraterpenes... 

As mono- and sesquiterpenes are important natural products with a wide appUca-tion range, great efforts have been undertaken for the biotechnological production of valuable compounds. 

However, in the biotechnological production of specific mono- or sesquiterpenes, manifold difficulties have to be resolved including the lipophilic character of substrates and/or products their toxicity, especially on the membranes of the microorganisms and the formation of unwanted or toxic by-products. Additionally, in many cases, the targeted products are built at low rates, and the reactions depend on weakly active cofactors that are difficult to manage [94, 95]. 

Beta-caryophyllene has been detected as one of the most abundant terpenes in P. caribaea by spectrometric methods [133]. This sesquiterpene has long been used in the perfume and cosmetics industry. Recently, using biotechnological approaches, phototrophic organisms have been genetically transformed to produce p-caryophyllene to be used by the biofuel industry [180]. 

The extraction of natural nootkatone from citrus oil and peel is too expensive, because the process is characterized by low yields and high biomass production, and it suffers from annual harvest fluctuations. The chemical oxidation of the sesquiterpene valencene extracted from orange peels often results in off-notes, and it has the disadvantage of employing heavy-metal salts as strong oxidants thus the final product cannot be labeled as natural. Therefore, biotechnological routes have been extensively studied in the last decade to find an economical and sustainable synthetic procedure to natural nootkatone. Most of them make use... 

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