Results - Methyl Salicylate

While the choice for the molecule to induce the ripening process was quiet easy because the quantities and the effects of ethylene on plants and on both climacteric and nonclimateric fruits are largely described in literature, was harder to find a synthesizable substance able to block the fruits’ ripening. This is due to the fact that most of the molecule reported to inhibit the maturation are toxic or they have a terrible smell (this is the case of putrescine and cadaverin). Moreover we were searching for a volatile molecule in order to reach the fruit from the bacteria without contact of these two. After long discussions and researches we finally ran into some papers that present the effects of Methyl Salicylate (MeSA) in inhibit fruit maturation. So, the choice to produce this organic ester was made. To produce it we have decided to exploit the work Eau De Coli done by the MIT IGEM Team 2006 ( http://openwetware.org/wiki/IGEM:MIT/2006/Blurb ) that exploited the pathway shown in the picture that starts from chorismate, a metabolic intermediate of the Shikimate pathway.