Ananya Prashar
Research Mentor(s): Filipa Barroso Pereira
Mentor Department: Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan
Authors: Ananya Prashar, Filipa Pereira, Christina M. McBride
Session: Session 2 (10:00am – 10:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 102
Abstract
Environmental restrictions, worker exploitation, and unstable market conditions are critical issues facing the global vanilla sector. Since it takes several years for natural vanilla vines to mature, current production levels cannot meet growing consumer demand, resulting in sharp price increases. These challenges are worsened by using manufactured replacements and labor-intensive, traditional hand-pollination methods, leaving farmers economically susceptible. Synthetic vanilla, often used as an alternative, is synthesized from lignin, a byproduct of wood pulp and petrochemicals. Though synthetic vanilla consists of pure vanillin molecules, it tastes artificial because it lacks the complexity of the hundreds of flavor compounds found in natural vanilla extracts. Synthetic biology has been investigated as a reliable alternative to overcome these obstacles by genetically modifying yeast strains to manufacture vanilla’s major flavor compounds. The vanillin-glucoside heterologous biosynthetic pathway was expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using enzymes from different kingdoms of life that mimic the plant biosynthetic pathway, enabling the production of vanilla’s characteristic and complex flavor. In this work, we will use a multiplex CRISPRi/a approach to further optimize the metabolic fluxes of engineered yeast strains to enhance product titers. This approach provides a scalable and sustainable alternative to conventional vanilla cultivation and synthetic vanilla flavor. Our research may help satisfy the global demand for more robust-tasting vanilla by utilizing yeast metabolism to increase vanillin yield.
