Gold from ambergris goo
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Jonathan Cline
Mar 3, 2013, 11:21:08 PM3/3/13
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Recently in the news, random bystander earns six figures by happening upon a natural goo worth six figures. Might be worth someone's while to look into growing some ambergris via syn bacto. Not saying it's possible - just might be interesting ;-D After reading about the substance I get a not-so-fresh lanoliney feeling.
Recent genome news about possible synthesized production of a replacement :
"""University of British Columbia researchers have identified a gene in balsam fir trees that could facilitate cheaper and more sustainable production of plant-based fixatives and scents used in the fragrance industry and reduce the need for ambergris, a substance harvested from whale barf.
When sperm whales consume sharp objects, such as seashells and fish bones, their gut produces a sticky substance to protect their digestive organs. They then regurgitate the mixture – much like cats throwing up fur balls – and the vomit, reacting with seawater, turns into rock-like objects that wash ashore. These are collected and refined for their fixative properties. Called ambergris, the scented compound is added to high-end perfumes to help the fragrance stay on the skin longer.
The discovery was led by Prof. Joerg Bohlmann and postdoctoral research associate Philipp Zerbe at UBC’s Michael Smith Laboratories. Details are published in the April 6 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
“The use of ambergris in the fragrance industry has been controversial,” says Bohlmann, who is a professor of Botany and Forest Sciences. “First of all, it’s an animal byproduct and the use of such in cosmetics has been problematic, not to mention it comes from the sperm whale, an endangered species.”
Even though much of the ambergris approved for use today is manually collected along the shorelines of known sperm whale habitats in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and in the Caribbean, it is still a costly venture. In the Mediterranean, sage has been cultivated for the production of a plant-based substitute of ambergris, but yields are variable and can be unpredictable, similar to manual collection of ambergris.
“We’ve now discovered that a gene from balsam fir is much more efficient at producing such natural compounds, which could make production of this bio-product less expensive and more sustainable,” says Bohlmann.
"""
## Jonathan Cline
## jcl...@ieee.org
## Mobile: +1-805-617-0223
########################
Recent genome news about possible synthesized production of a replacement :
"""University of British Columbia researchers have identified a gene in balsam fir trees that could facilitate cheaper and more sustainable production of plant-based fixatives and scents used in the fragrance industry and reduce the need for ambergris, a substance harvested from whale barf.
When sperm whales consume sharp objects, such as seashells and fish bones, their gut produces a sticky substance to protect their digestive organs. They then regurgitate the mixture – much like cats throwing up fur balls – and the vomit, reacting with seawater, turns into rock-like objects that wash ashore. These are collected and refined for their fixative properties. Called ambergris, the scented compound is added to high-end perfumes to help the fragrance stay on the skin longer.
The discovery was led by Prof. Joerg Bohlmann and postdoctoral research associate Philipp Zerbe at UBC’s Michael Smith Laboratories. Details are published in the April 6 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
“The use of ambergris in the fragrance industry has been controversial,” says Bohlmann, who is a professor of Botany and Forest Sciences. “First of all, it’s an animal byproduct and the use of such in cosmetics has been problematic, not to mention it comes from the sperm whale, an endangered species.”
Even though much of the ambergris approved for use today is manually collected along the shorelines of known sperm whale habitats in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and in the Caribbean, it is still a costly venture. In the Mediterranean, sage has been cultivated for the production of a plant-based substitute of ambergris, but yields are variable and can be unpredictable, similar to manual collection of ambergris.
“We’ve now discovered that a gene from balsam fir is much more efficient at producing such natural compounds, which could make production of this bio-product less expensive and more sustainable,” says Bohlmann.
"""
## Jonathan Cline
## jcl...@ieee.org
## Mobile: +1-805-617-0223
########################
Patrik D'haeseleer
Mar 4, 2013, 2:03:37 AM3/4/13
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Looks like this is the original paper:
Cis-abienol is a diterpenoid, so expression in a plant would probably be the easiest biosynthesis route.
Patrik
Bifunctional cis-abienol synthase from Abies balsamea discovered by transcriptome sequencing and its implications for diterpenoid fragrance production.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22337889Cis-abienol is a diterpenoid, so expression in a plant would probably be the easiest biosynthesis route.
Patrik
Daniel C.
Mar 5, 2013, 1:49:16 PM3/5/13
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On Sun, Mar 3, 2013 at 11:21 PM, Jonathan Cline <jnc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> “The use of ambergris in the fragrance industry has been controversial,”
> says Bohlmann, who is a professor of Botany and Forest Sciences. “First of
> all, it’s an animal byproduct and the use of such in cosmetics has been
> problematic, not to mention it comes from the sperm whale, an endangered
> species.”
How can this possibly be controversial? It's picked up from the shore
> “The use of ambergris in the fragrance industry has been controversial,”
> says Bohlmann, who is a professor of Botany and Forest Sciences. “First of
> all, it’s an animal byproduct and the use of such in cosmetics has been
> problematic, not to mention it comes from the sperm whale, an endangered
> species.”
and found floating in the ocean. Whales aren't harmed in any way, or
even interacted with, when people pick up their excrement. Is this
just controversy spilling over from whaling, or am I missing something
here?
Also, totally going to look into putting that gene into soybeans.
-Dan
Jonathan Cline
Mar 5, 2013, 3:14:39 PM3/5/13
to diy...@googlegroups.com, Jonathan Cline
On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 10:49 AM, Daniel C. <dcroo...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sun, Mar 3, 2013 at 11:21 PM, Jonathan Cline <jnc...@gmail.com> wrote:How can this possibly be controversial? It's picked up from the shore
> “The use of ambergris in the fragrance industry has been controversial,”
> says Bohlmann, who is a professor of Botany and Forest Sciences. “First of
> all, it’s an animal byproduct and the use of such in cosmetics has been
> problematic, not to mention it comes from the sperm whale, an endangered
> species.”
and found floating in the ocean. Whales aren't harmed in any way
From superficial reading regarding the history of this substance: recent history shows the significant slaughter of whales only to find this substance. So I would guess it is similarly controversial to ivory for those who like elephants, etc. I doubt everyone in search of this substance waits to randomly find it floating in the ocean and there is probably a more active stance in play, i.e. buy a very large harpoon.
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