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Engineering Success

Demonstrate engineering success in a technical aspect of your project by going through at least one iteration of the engineering design cycle. This achievement should be distinct from your Contribution for Bronze.

Project Description

    Pueraria mirifica is a plant native to Thailand and other parts of Asia. Its roots have been used in traditional Thai medicine for centuries.[1] This usage is due to it containing puerarin, a phytoestrogen that mimics the estrogen hormone. Additionally, puerarin's other antioxidative and neuroprotective properties make it a valuable supplement.[2]

    The main method of harvesting puerarin involves growing P. mirifica, which has a tuber and grows underground.[4] However, its current means of production are not sustainable. The entire plant gets uprooted during harvesting, damaging the surrounding soil and natural habitat. Moreover, P. mirifica also takes a long time and a lot of water to grow, taking up scarce resources. In times of drought which is common in Thailand, it would be hard to sustain the production of this plant making this supplement less accessible to people who need it.

    The Thailand-RIS team aims to solve this problem by developing a more sustainable and less resource-intensive way to produce puerarin. This can be achieved by relocating the production of the phytoestrogens to another plant that is easier to grow. Currently, the enzymes required to create puerarin are only found in leguminous plants[4] , however by relocating the production of all the key enzymes involved in the isoflavonoid biosynthetic pathway for puerarin to Nicotiana benthamiana, which is easier to grow, we can produce puerarin[3] more sustainably in a more sustainable plant.

Puerarin_Pathway
Figure 1: Biosynthesis pathway of puerarin in P. mirifica(modified by Kittitya Tantisuwanichkul)[3]

    As illustrated in Fig 1, P. mirifica’s puerarin production involves many key enzymes. Non-leguminous plants typically only produce metabolites up to cinnamic acid and lack a complete Isoflavanoid pathway[4]. By introducing the production of the enzymes CHS, CHR, CHI, IFS, HID, and C-UGT into N. benthamiana, we can promote more sustainable production and improve access to puerarin supplements.

Reference

  1. Intharuksa, A., Kitamura, M., Peerakam, N., Charoensup, W., Ando, H., Sasaki, Y., & Sirisa-Ard, P. (2020). Evaluation of white Kwao Krua (Pueraria candollei Grah. ex Benth.) products sold in Thailand by molecular, chemical, and microscopic analyses. Journal of Natural Medicines, 74(1), 106–118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-019-01351-2
  2. News, T. M. (n.d.). Medical Benefits of Kwao Krua (Pueraria mirifica) For Women - Thailand Medical News. Medical Benefits of Kwao Krua (Pueraria Mirifica) For Women - Thailand Medical News. Retrieved June 14, 2024, from https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/medical-benefits-of-kwao-krua-pueraria-mirifica-for-women
  3. Suntichaikamolkul, N., Tantisuwanichkul, K., Prombutara, P., Kobtrakul, K., Zumsteg, J., Wannachart, S., Schaller, H., Yamazaki, M., Saito, K., De-eknamkul, W., Vimolmangkang, S., & Sirikantaramas, S. (2019). Transcriptome analysis of Pueraria candollei var. mirifica for gene discovery in the biosyntheses of isoflavones and miroestrol. BMC Plant Biology, 19(1), 581. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-019-2205-0
  4. White Kwao Krua (Pueraria mirifica). (n.d.). Retrieved June 14, 2024, from https://en.nanomed.co.th/15169529/white-kwao-krua-pueraria-mirifica

MUHEHEHE

Demonstrate engineering success in a part of your project by going through at least one iteration of the engineering design cycle. This achievement should be distinct from your Contribution for Bronze.

If you plan to show engineering success by creating a new Part that has been shown to work as expected, you must document your contribution on the Part's Main Page on the Registry for your team to be eligible for this criteria.

Please see the 2024 Medals Page for more information.