Challenge

Quassinoids are natural products with insecticidal and antifeedant properties which could help reduce the use of chemically synthesised insecticides. These products are currently sourced from wild populations of the slow-growing Simaroubaceae family tree, which is found in tropical forests. Yields are currently too low to be feasible for use in large-scale crop protection applications.

Green Bioactives Ltd (GBL) has found a way to produce these products in the lab from vascular stem cells (VSCs), however, the team needed to use specialist equipment to accurately determine the yield they had achieved.

To maximise yield of the target natural product GBL will exploit an “elicitation” approach to identify and validate the optimal molecular cues required to trigger formation of the target natural product.

Solution

A successful application to IBioIC’s Facilities Access Fund enabled GBL to access a gas chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (GC-QToF) at the University of Edinburgh’s EdinOmics facility (RRID:SCR_021838). A protocol for terpenoid extraction and measurement was established and a method of detection using GC-QToF was developed and successfully implemented in Q. indica extract. Analysis of the resulting terpenoids at EdinOmics allowed GBL to determine which chemical had the best effect on quassin production.

Outcome

The team successfully detected the desired products in the Simaroubaceae VSCs extract. Having established a method to detect the molecule of interest, GBL can now further develop their cell lines and apply for funding to develop this aspect of the business.