Among other products, the petrochemical industry needs fossil fuel components to produce artificial and synthetic substances. The disadvantages of fossil fuels however are that they are pollution-causing and their stocks are limited. A more sustainable way of obtaining source materials for the chemical industry is to extract the necessary substances from plants.
Plants are capable of producing certain chemicals and other building blocks which may be used in the chemical industry. Wageningen UR’s Plant Research International is studying these possibilities within the scope of the project Production of platform chemicals by plants. These are referred to as platform or bulk chemicals because these substances serve as a type of basic source material for various chemical processes. The researchers developed potato plants that produce itacon acid (organic acid) and lysine (amino acid). These are important building blocks for the chemicals industry.
Biobased economy
Up until now, the petrochemical industry has produced fossil fuels such as crude oil and gas. We already know that one day these resources will be depleted. Although it may take another fifty years until the crude oil and gas sources have ‘dried up’, it is wise to search for sustainable alternatives now. The advantage of plants is that they grow using sunlight. Obtaining building blocks from plants contributes to a biobased economy, a sustainable economy which uses green raw materials.
Itacon acid
Aspergillus terreus is a fungus that produces itacon acid naturally. The Wageningen researchers have identified the genetic code this special fungus uses to produce itacon acid. An enzyme in the fungus that is responsible for this process is purified and described. Next, the corresponding gene is cloned and placed in a transgenic starch potato which produces a high concentration of lysine. This resulted in a potato with a tuber which, in addition to starch and a high level of lysine also produces itacon acid.
Worldwide demand
The potato plant developed by the researchers can produce fifteen times as much lysine as normal starch potato plants. The itacon acid content is so high that the starch potato acreage in the Netherlands alone could satisfy the current worldwide demand for itacon acid.
In the subsequent steps of this project, the researchers will examine the possibilities for applying these techniques in practice. They will also study which part of the plant cell could best be used to store itacon acid and lysine, and how these quantities could be increased. They have already discovered that the tuber contains a much higher quantity of the necessary substances than the leaves. They will also study how itacon acid can best be isolated on a large scale.
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