On the Importance of Positive Controls

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the challenges of using engineered yeast for the biosynthesis of medicinal compounds, specifically thebaine, in home-brew fermentation settings. Researchers Endy, Galanie, and Smolke (2015) found that home-brew conditions resulted in no production of thebaine and only minimal amounts of reticuline, an upstream biosynthetic intermediate. The study utilized English ale yeast as a positive control, which successfully produced a palatable fermentation. The findings indicate significant technical hurdles that must be overcome before home-brew biosynthesis of medicinal opiates can achieve meaningful yields.

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  • Understanding of yeast fermentation processes
  • Familiarity with biosynthetic pathways in yeast
  • Knowledge of industrial bioreactor operations
  • Experience with positive control experiments in biological research
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  • Research the biosynthesis pathways of morphinan opiates in yeast
  • Explore the differences between industrial bioreactors and home-brew fermentation techniques
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This discussion is beneficial for biotechnologists, researchers in synthetic biology, and anyone involved in fermentation science or the development of medicinal compounds from engineered organisms.

Ygggdrasil
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Found this abstract while browsing through some papers, and thought it was quite humorous:
Yeast-based biosynthesis of medicinal compounds traditionally derived from plant materials is improving. Both concerns and hopes exist for the possibility that individual small volume batch fermentations could provide distributed and independent access to a diversity of compounds some of which are now abused, illegal, or unavailable to many who need for genuine medical purposes. However, there are differences between industrial bioreactors and ‘home-brew’ fermentation. We used engineered yeast that make thebaine, a morphinan opiate, to quantify if differences in fermentation conditions impact biosynthesis yields. We used yeast that make an English ale as a positive fermentation control. We observed no production of thebaine and miniscule amounts of reticuline, an upstream biosynthetic intermediate, in home-brew fermentations; the positive control was palatable. We suggest that additional technical challenges, some of which are unknown and likely unrelated to optimized production in large-volume bioreactors, would need to be addressed for engineered yeast to ever realize home-brew biosynthesis of medicinal opiates at meaningful yields.

Endy, Galanie & Smolke. 2015 Complete absence of thebaine biosynthesis under home-brew fermentation conditions. bioRxiv doi:10.1101/024299

Full text freely available at http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/08/13/024299
 
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Alternative introduction: "We found a reason to make beer at home using science grants".
 
We observed no production of thebaine and miniscule amounts of reticuline, an upstream biosynthetic intermediate, in home-brew fermentations;
So - no 'opiate for the masses' ?
 
jim hardy said:
So - no 'opiate for the masses' ?
Not at the moment, at least.