Ecoefficient production of coral derived pseudopterosin in engineered E. coli

Pseudopterosins are diterpene glycosides, derived from the Caribbean soft coral Antillogorgia elisabethae. These anti-inflammatory compounds have a growing market in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry. Current production is derived from wild harvested coral, which poses environmental and supply issues for an expanding market. In this project we purify the key biosynthetic enzymes from coral and identify their sequence using proteomic methods. The sequence data will be used to construct a heterologous pseudopterosin production system based on E. coli. To regulate metabolic flux, the biosynthetic elements will be integrated into the genome.