Production of Terpenoids

Nowadays, the synthetic organic chemist can make any target molecule. The real question is At what cost  

Seven crucial parameters in a commercial-scale chemical process are safety, environment, purity, reproducibility, capacity, cost and sustainability. 

Different routes to the same product will have different balances of positive and negative points in each of the seven parameters. 

Statistical methods of experimental design are employed to determine the best overall balance of reaction parameters. 

Factors other than technical ones may determine the choice of route (ie.g., safety, environment, feedstock availability). 

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Martin VJJ, Pitera DJ, Withers ST, Newman JD, Keasling JD. (2003) Engineering a mevalonate pathway in Escherichia coli for production of terpenoids. Nature Biotechnol 21 796-802. 

Solet, J. M., A. Simon-Ramiasa, L. Cosson, and J. L. Guignard. 1998. Centella asiatica (L.) urban (pennywort) cell culture, production of terpenoids, and biotransformation capacity. In Bajaj, Y. P. S. (ed.). Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry... 

The isolation of terpenes from plants entails several problems (e.g, very low concentrations). Therefore other sources of these flavour compounds are searched for microorganisms for example (especially bacteria and fungi) are used for the production of terpenoids [22]. Since terpenoids are very important flavour and fragrance compounds, the biotransformation of terpenes offers a very interesting source of novel... 

The universal precursors to terpenoids, the C5-compounds dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP) and isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP), originate from two pathways in plants (Fig. 1). The mevalonate (MEV) pathway is well described in many eukaryotic organisms. This pathway is present in the cy-tosol/endoplasmic reticulum of plants. More recently, another pathway has been described, the 2C-methyl-D-erythritol-4-phosphate (MEP) pathway, which is found in the plastids of plants (19). The localization of the different pathways and the plastid-directing transit peptides found in hemi-TPS, mono-TPS, and di-TPS, but not in sesqui-TPS, result in the production of terpenoids from at least two different precursors pools. 

Several carotenoid-inducers have been found to be effective in promoting the production of terpenoid indole alkaloids in C. 

Terpenoids are defined as materials with molecular structures containing carbon backbones made up of isoprene (2-methylbuta- 1,3-diene) units. Isoprene contains five carbon atoms and therefore, the number of carbon atoms in any terpenoid is a multiple of five. Degradation products of terpenoids in which carbon atoms have been lost through chemical or biochemical processes may contain different numbers of carbon atoms, but their overall structure will indicate their terpenoid origin and they will still be considered as terpenoids. 

Various other natural extracts are used as feedstocks for the production of terpenoids as shown in Figure 5.35. Two of the most significant ones are clary sage and the citrus oils (obtained as by-products of the fruit juice industry). After distillation of the oil from clary sage, sclareol (203) is extracted from the residue and this serves as a starting material for naphthofuran (204), known... 

Lines and Level of Cell Differentiation to Improve the Production of Terpenoid Indole Alkaloids. 101... 

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