To predict theoretical acetaminophen production, we calculated the amount of a precursor, chorismate, by quantifying its main products, the aromatic amino acids phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan.
We analyzed amino acid composition literature for similar cyanobacteria species since none were available for Synechococcus and found that between one and 13.6 percent of amino acids were aromatics by weight.
With the assumption that our enzymes would take a quarter of the chorismate precursor and the molar conversions from Equations 1 and 2 below, we got an estimate for acetaminophen concentration of between 17.5mg and 1.29 mg per gram dried biomass.
To further verify our organism’s amount of precursor, we ran both the genome and the ribosomal protein sequences through a self programmed amino acid converter-counter and got aromatic amino acid molar percentages of 9.3% and 5.14% respectively.
These numbers show that there is likely enough precursor and that acetaminophen production should be within a measurable range.
Biomass
Timescale:
days
Light Intensity:
µE m-2 s-1
Temperature:
℃
Starting Density:
g biomass/ L