Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GreenRubber (GreenRubber - Sustainable Production of Natural Rubber Using Yeast)
Berichtszeitraum: 2023-01-01 bis 2024-12-31
Natural rubber is a crucial material used in over 50,000 products, from car tires to medical devices, due to its durability, elasticity, and insulation properties. The global demand for natural rubber is increasing, especially in fast-developing Asian countries. However, all commercial natural rubber is currently sourced from rubber trees, mainly grown in South-East Asia, which makes the supply vulnerable to disease, climate change, and weather disruptions. Additionally, the supply chain for rubber contributes to high carbon emissions and geopolitical risks.
In my original plan, I had three main goals to produce natural rubber using yeast:
1. Find the missing components needed for rubber production by experimenting with a plant called Nicotiana benthamiana.
2. Modify yeast cells to produce many small structures called lipid bodies (LBs). These LBs would act like rubber particles, providing a space for rubber to be made and stored inside the yeast.
3. Recreate the natural rubber production process in yeast and fine-tune it to make high-quality rubber.
However, I didn’t pursue the third goal because the first two didn’t yield the expected results. Instead, we shifted the project’s focus to a new direction: creating a yeast cell factory to produce materials for rubber alternatives. As part of this new approach, we added a new goal:
2’. Find the most effective enzyme (myrcene synthase) in yeast and show that yeast can produce myrcene at a rate of half a gram per liter in the lab.
This new goal was successfully achieved.
In my original plan, I had three main goals to produce natural rubber using yeast:
1. Find the missing components needed for rubber production by experimenting with a plant called Nicotiana benthamiana.
2. Modify yeast cells to produce many small structures called lipid bodies (LBs). These LBs would act like rubber particles, providing a space for rubber to be made and stored inside the yeast.
3. Recreate the natural rubber production process in yeast and fine-tune it to make high-quality rubber.
However, I didn’t pursue the third goal because the first two didn’t yield the expected results. Instead, we shifted the project’s focus to a new direction: creating a yeast cell factory to produce materials for rubber alternatives. As part of this new approach, we added a new goal:
2’. Find the most effective enzyme (myrcene synthase) in yeast and show that yeast can produce myrcene at a rate of half a gram per liter in the lab.
This new goal was successfully achieved.
In my original project, I aimed to find the missing pieces needed for natural rubber production using lettuce as a model plant. Here’s what I did:
1. Tested known rubber-making components in tobacco plants, lettuce, and yeast to see if they could work in these systems.
2. Tried providing the building blocks for rubber production in tobacco plants through a technique called infiltration.
3. Identified new genes potentially involved in rubber production by analyzing published data from lettuce.
4. Examined gene activity in wild lettuce, which produces more natural rubber than regular lettuce.
To prepare yeast cells for rubber production, I:
1. Boosted the production of lipid droplets, small structures in yeast cells that could serve as “factories” for making rubber.
2. Tweaked the yeast's growth conditions to reduce stress and improve their efficiency.
1. Tested known rubber-making components in tobacco plants, lettuce, and yeast to see if they could work in these systems.
2. Tried providing the building blocks for rubber production in tobacco plants through a technique called infiltration.
3. Identified new genes potentially involved in rubber production by analyzing published data from lettuce.
4. Examined gene activity in wild lettuce, which produces more natural rubber than regular lettuce.
To prepare yeast cells for rubber production, I:
1. Boosted the production of lipid droplets, small structures in yeast cells that could serve as “factories” for making rubber.
2. Tweaked the yeast's growth conditions to reduce stress and improve their efficiency.
The failure to produce natural rubber in the original project led me to hypothesize that the process is tightly controlled by the balance between two key building blocks. Their ratio might play a critical role in determining whether rubber can be successfully made. Additionally, when certain proteins were added, the amount of natural rubber increased, suggesting that these proteins might not be essential but are helpful for boosting rubber production.
The success of the new project provides a solid foundation for further improvements. With more optimization, it could eventually enable large-scale production of these alternative building blocks for natural rubber.
The success of the new project provides a solid foundation for further improvements. With more optimization, it could eventually enable large-scale production of these alternative building blocks for natural rubber.