Method of biosynthesizing tetrodotoxin

Abstract

The present invention relates methods for the biosynthesis of tetrodotoxin (TTX) involving the steps of obtaining a culture possessing one or more of a Vibrio species, such as through a seed culture/ inoculating the culture and tissue extract from a textrodotoxin-bearing organism in a fermenter medium, and isolating and purifying tetrodotoxin from said fermenter, resulting in a yield of TTX of about 0.5 g TTX/L in about 3 to 5 days, such TTX being at least 90% pure.

Description

technical field The present invention relates to the biosynthesis method of tetrodotoxin. Background technique Tetrodotoxin (TTX) was first isolated from the ovary of puffer fish. Since then, it has been commercially extracted and purified for many years. However, the extraction rate of TTX is very low, about 1g of TTX is obtained from 100Kg of ovaries, making TTX one of the most expensive natural neurotoxins. Moreover, the industry as a whole has suffered a decline due to the dwindling species of fugu due to overproduction. In view of the above problems, many researchers turned to propose new synthesis methods. The synthesis of TTX is a challenge for organic chemists (Huang, "Synthetic Approaches to Tetrodotoxin"). For example, some methods include stereospecific methods for introducing the guanidinium nitrogen at the C8a position. Other approaches focus on novel molecular rearrangements. But because of ongoing complications, it's more cost-effective to extract tetro...

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Problems solved by technology

However, the extraction rate of TTX is very low, about 100Kg of ovaries can get 1g of TTX, making TTX one of the most expensive natura

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