Re-engineered Yeast Creating Your Scented Candles (and Much More!).

An article from The New York Times states that many of the spices and flavors that people have come to love can now be produced by genetically modified yeast in huge bioreactors. Flavors like vanilla, sumac, saffron come from exotic plants that are difficult to grow under normal conditions. Through the use of genetic engineering, The company called Amyris designed micro-organisms that produce the organic chemicals involved in producing the natural flavors found in plants. Amyris tests thousands of different strains in order to determine the most effective one. This type of production is environmentally friendly and completely sustainable. In fact, this fermentation process conveniently produces a higher yield at a faster rate.

Bioreactors with modified yeast.

With the advent of genetic engineering, I believe that organic-derived spices and flavorings will further increase in price while genetically modified products will be way cheaper since environmental groups are highly against this non-natural process. Honestly, I believe that genetic engineering is a more updated version of selective breeding. This article was just on flavoring, but this technique has a whole variety of uses. Potentially, this technique can be used to advance every field, ranging from food to medicine. Specifically in terms of medicine, the demand has increased dramatically. By using genetically modified organism, medicinal compounds can be created quickly and be distributed at affordable prices. With further research, synthetic biology will transform society for the better.

Preserving Vanilla

Vanilla is in such high demand that it is beginning to struggle to survive. It is the world's second most expensive spice. It has become so popular next to chocolate, that its hard to maintain the plants since they live temperamental lives. Vanilla is struggling in today's population so scientists are trying to clone the plant making it easier to produce. Scientists at the school of Biosciences at the University of Malaysia campus are working on cloning the vanilla orchid species through tissue culture. Cloning these rare species come with a lot of issues including cutting the stem of the plant which can cause mutations in the plant unnecessary for cloning so the procedure is expensive and time consuming. Scientists use DNA marker systems to find out why these mutations occur. The DNA fragments will show why these mutations occur so that way they can clone vanillin orchids successfully. Through these studies as to why mutations occur, scientists will be able to regenerate vanilla without making them genetically instable. Hopefully they will prevent the mutations and will be able to regenerate vanilla since it is one of the most popular spices.