From 2013.igem.org

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  • E. coli
  • Methanococcus
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  • Engineering Seminar
  • Clarke Middle School
• Human Practice
• The Team
  • Meet The Team
  • Official Team Profile
• Acknowledgements

Human Practice

Medicinal Uses

Geraniol, among other isoprenoids, have shown to inhibit the growth of pancreatic cancers. The use of geraniol as a tumor suppressor works effectively without significantly raising blood cholesterol levels. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9075204 (1)]

Geraniol has been shown to inhibit prostate cancer growth in mice. Efficiency of inhibition is significantly increased using geraniol in additional to the chemical docetaxel. The inhibition of prostate cancer is achieved by restoring the cells ability to experience cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21371438 (2)]

Geraniol was tested as a secondary chemical to aid in the inhibition of colonic cancer growth. Geraniol increases sensitivity of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) treatment. The addition of geraniol in a 5-FU treatment shows double the anti-prolific effect on colonic cancer cells. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11961066 (3)]

Biofuel

As a 10-Carbon compound, geraniol has a higher energy density than ethanol. Geraniol can also be further catalyzed into geraniol acetate using the enzyme geraniol acetyl transferase. Geraniol acetate has greater implications than geraniol regarding the field of biofuels and it has a higher energy density than bio-diesel. Geraniol acetate could also be used as an intermediate to produce 2,6-dimethyloctane, an advanced biofuel.(4)

Personal Uses

Geraniol has been proven to be an effective insect repellent. Geraniol was compared against other botanical repellents and geraniol's repellent strength was significantly greater than the others. [http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3376/038.034.0102 (5)] If you've ever heard of placing geraniums in your window sill to prevent insects, then you know that geraniol is an effective insect repellent. Geraniol is extracted from geraniums to create name brand insect repellents that are glorified on being deet-free. These geraniol-based insect repellents offer superior, environmental-friendly alternatives to modern insect repellents. [http://bugband.net/geraniol_explained.html (6)]

Geraniol, an aromachemical found in roses, lemon and other plants alike, is commonly used in fragrances and flavorings. Geraniol has been used to produce many different name brand perfumes, toiletries, household scents, etc. [http://chemistinthebottle.wordpress.com/2013/04/26/chemistry-flash-nerol-and-geraniol/ (7)]

Methanococcus

Methanococcus maripaludis was isolated from salt marshes, but there are other Methanogens which are close to Methanococcus that can be found in the human gut. People are just starting to realize the presence of Methanogens in our gut may affect our health either in a good or bad way, but we lack the genetic tools to study those gut Methanogens closely. On the contrary, Methanococcus has a series of well established genetic tools which allows us to study the fundamental aspects that are conservative among all Methanogens. Therefore, new knowledge acquired from Methanococcus as well as the tools developed for it are expected to provide more insights to better study the gut Methanogens.