Berry useful properties of soft fruit under research
As the world’s population tries to adapt to climate change, many industries are still heavily reliant on fossil fuel resources to make components in the pharmaceutical, food, cosmetics and other sectors – but the plant kingdom, and particularly berry crops, could hold the key to breaking this dependence.
That is precisely the aim of BacHBERRY, a three-year, €9.5M project funded by the EU under the FP7 programme. It is being delivered by an international scientific consortium including the James Hutton Institute to study the sustainable use of diverse and complex natural molecules derived from berries for a wide range of applications.
As part of this international research effort, the James Hutton Institute is using state of the art analytical technologies to screen a global range of cultivated and wild berries, including UK favourites blackcurrant and raspberry, for natural molecule diversity. These common and unique chemistries identified will be assessed for a broad range of bioactivities against conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, cancer and neurodegenerative pathologies such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Furthermore the compounds will also be screened for broad and specific antibacterial activities as well as use as functional antioxidants and colourants in food and cosmetic industries.
The first step is to identify natural compounds with the best bioactivities or functions (e.g. specific colour). Then, genes that code for them will be identified and then copied into bacteria for use in industrial fermentation systems. This will allow the production of these valuable compounds at high purity without any interfering contaminants, thereby ensuring safety for the ultimate user whilst optimising their treasured bioactivities and function in the ultimate product.
Project co-ordinator Dr Jochen Förster, of he Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, is leading a multidisciplinary team of 18 partners from 10 countries all around the world with a vast array of expertise, technologies and know-how. The consortium assembles a full chain of research and innovation, composed of 12 research and technology organisations, 5 small to medium enterprises and a large enterprise, with the capacity to exploit novel bioactivities from berry fruits diversity.
Professor Derek Stewart, leader of Enhancing Crop Productivity and Utilisation at the James Hutton Institute, said: “This combination of scientists and companies represent an exciting opportunity to capture real value from our berry diverse germplasm to address multiple end uses, in particular the conditions such as Type II diabetes and debilitating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. By lifting the biosynthetic pathways from berries and placing them in bacterial cell factories we have a full manageable, natural and sustainable production system for some potentially potent bioactive compounds that can be produced in high quantity and purity.”
Notes to editors
The project BacHBERRY will develop a portfolio of sustainable methodologies to mine the potential of the untapped biodiversity of the bioactive phenolic compounds in an extensive collection of berry species. It is a three-year collaborative project, which started 1 November 2013. It is funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP7) with a total budget of 9.5 million euros.
The partners in BacHBERRY at a glance:
Austria
- Biofaction KG (Dr Markus Schmidt)
Chile
- Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Professor Pilar Bañados)
China
- Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Professor Wang Liang-Sheng)
Denmark
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Biosustainability - Technical University of Denmark (Professor Jochen Förster)
- University of Copenhagen (Dr Björn Hamberger)
- Evolva Biotech A/S (Dr Jørgen Hansen)
- Chr. Hansen A/S (Dr Finn Okkels)
France
- Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique (Professor Marie-France Sagot)
Germany
- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH (Professor Michael Bott)
Netherlands
- University of Groningen (Professor Oscar P. Kuipers)
- Delft University of Technology (Dr Marcel Ottens)
Portugal
- Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica (Dr Cláudia Nunes Santos)
- Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica (Dr Susana Vinga)
- Biotempo – Consultoria em Biotecnologia lda (Dr Isabel Rocha)
Russian Federation
- N. I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry (Dr Artem Sorokin)
UK
- The James Hutton Institute (Professor Derek Stewart)
- The John Innes Centre (Professor Cathie Martin)
- Norfolk Plant Sciences (Professor Cathie Martin)
Coordinator
Professor Jochen Förster
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Biosustainability - Technical University of Denmark
Phone: +45 45 25 80 22
Project administrator
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Biosustainability - Technical University of Denmark
Ólafur Ögmundarson
Phone: +45 21 48 26 60
Press and media enquiries:
Bernardo Rodriguez-Salcedo, Media Manager, Tel: +44 (0)1224 395089 (direct line), +44 (0)344 928 5428 (switchboard) or +44 (0)7791 193918 (mobile).