SynShark LLC — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase I: 8.8

Description

SynShark LLC aims to create an economically viable source of squalene from American tobacco. Squalene is a triterpene important to the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry. Unfortunately squalene is mainly sourced through the "livering" of millions of deep-sea sharks threatening their populations. Through the Company's exclusively licensed technology for triterpene squalene which is extracted from metabolically engineered tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. 1068). SynShark demonstrated that it can express high squalene levels through a novel photosynthetic method. Specifically and in collaboration with Texas A&M University the team previously showed a capacity to shift carbon flux into the MEP pathway allowing for greater accumulation of tobacco squalene. During Phase I the Company will optimize the previously studied method for increased terpene production and storage within SynShark tobacco. Because the cropping methods and postharvest infrastructure are already in place due to tobacco's historical importance in agriculture and the American economy tobacco can be easily commercialized. Tobacco offers an ideal synthesis platform for modification for commercial applications due to high transformation efficiency and established protocols for regeneration confirmation and composition analysis. Between 2014 and 2018 the Company produced stable squalene producing tobacco varieties at pilot scale and processed fractioned bioproduct for the market. The know-how developed to bring squalene to market will support a rapid go-to-market scenario during Phase II. Through the optimizing of squalene extraction from SynShark tobacco we plan to expand our platform of natural products to satisfy the highly demanded market.