Team:Frankfurt/Project/Description

The Stevia plant produces several sweeteners known as Steviolglycosides which have only recently been admitted as a foodadditive in the European Union. The iGEM-Team Frankfurt 2013 searches for ways to transfer the pathway of the plant into Saccharomyces cerevisiae in order to make stevia production possible with both lower effort and lower costs. Several of known problems with carbohydratesweeteners like diabetes or caries could be overcome by the Steviolglycosides which are produced by Stevia rebaudiana. We're building upon results gained from last year's competition which gave us the possibility to transfer a mevalonat plasmid into yeast to increase the production of a steviol-precursor Geranylgeranyl-diphosphate. This year we're searching for a further reconstruction of the pathway and transfering the 2nd plasmid for synthesis of Steviol from Geranylgeranyl-diphosphate into yeast. Thus the whole pathway can take place in a microbial organism and easify the production by lowering the costs.