Team:Cornell/project/wetlab/fungal toolkit/carotenoids
From 2013.igem.org
Carotenoids
Summary
As a proof of concept to show that a metabolic pathway could be modified and engineered into fungi, we decided to use the carotenoid pathway. Carotenoids are organic pigments that are found in a wide variety of organisms used for functions such as photosynthesis and protection from light. The relevant carotenoid genes have been previously biobricked by the Cambridge team in 2009, and we modified their biobricks for our purposes.We used crtE, crtB, crtI, and crtY. The starting compound in this carotenoid pathway is farnesyl-pyrophosphate (FPP). FPP is a compound critical to the production terpenes and sterols, and so many organisms will naturally produce FPP. crtE is responsible for converting FPP into geranylgeranyl-pyrophosphate (GGPP). Then crtB converts GGPP into phytoene. Phyotene is then converted into lycopene, which is the first compound in this pathway to provide a color, by crtI. From lycopene, the red pigment can then become β-carotene and produce an orange color with the use of crtY.