From Discovery to Market: Fermentation for Ingredients and Natural Products

Plants and their secondary metabolites have served as fragrances, flavors, and pharmaceuticals for millennia. While the discovery of new secondary metabolites is extremely important, cost barriers such as limited availability and high molecule complexity can prevent their adoption by consumers. The emerging field of synthetic biology is beginning to democratize this process. By determining the metabolic pathways by which plants make small molecules and re-constructing them an organism amenable to fermentation, we can greatly increase the availability of natural products. Here we present case studies in the natural flavorings (peach lactones) and sweeteners (steviol glycosides) space and how Conagen has produced natural product molecules heterologously via fermentation. Current and future applications of bioproduction will be discussed, and several case studies will be presented that illustrate the impact already being felt in the food and beverage space. We are interested in working with academics to sponsor projects for natural product and metabolic pathway discovery.