Team:UMaryland/Description

Project Description

Lutein is a dietary supplement used as both a treatment and preventative measure for Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Our primary research focus is to combat AMD through lutein production. Lutein is currently extracted from the petals of marigolds, but we hope to create a more cost-effective and efficient way of synthesizing this carotenoid via bacterial pathways. Our goal is to optimize the production of lutein through the careful manipulation of promoters for various enzymes, not native to E. Coli, in the lutein pathway. This pathway begins with lycopene, which is then converted to alpha-carotene with the addition of epsilon- and then beta-cyclase. Alpha-carotene is then converted to lutein through epsilon- and beta-hydroxylase. In order to ensure that we are producing alpha carotene instead of beta carotene, we will be manipulating the regulation of epsilon and beta cyclase by testing various promoter pairings. We will then use this data to help model the synthetic pathway and hopefully create a user friendly tool to help iGEM teams in the future model synthetic projects.