Ricinoleic Acid Engineering Service

Ricinoleic Acid (RA) is a unique hydroxylated fatty acid critical for high-performance Lubricants/Nylon Precursor materials, serving as a base for polyurethanes, surfactants, and specialized plastics. Its conventional supply faces critical issues: Traditionally extracted from castor bean oil (toxic concerns); variable yield. The presence of the potent toxin ricin in the castor plant complicates processing and raises safety concerns.

CD Biosynsis offers two advanced bio-based solutions: Metabolic Engineering: Engineer oilseed plants (e.g., Camelina sativa) to overexpress Ricinus communis Hydroxylase (FAH12) for high accumulation in seeds. This genetic modification allows for RA production in non-toxic, easy-to-harvest oilseeds. Alternatively, we perform Biosynthesis in yeast by introducing the Hydroxy Fatty Acid pathway. This fermentation-based route offers a highly controlled, high-yield, and food-grade safe source of Ricinoleic Acid, entirely bypassing the castor plant toxicity risk.

Pain Points

The traditional supply chain for Ricinoleic Acid is constrained by these factors:

• Toxicity Concerns: Castor bean extraction co-produces ricin, a highly toxic protein, requiring extensive and costly detoxification steps for safety.
• Variable Yield: Yields from castor crops are highly dependent on weather, soil, and cultivation practices, leading to supply instability and price volatility.
• Competition with Food Crops: Expanding castor cultivation can compete for arable land needed for food production, raising sustainability issues.
• Limited Fatty Acid Diversity: The castor plant only produces a limited range of hydroxy fatty acids, restricting the chemical diversity available for next-generation polymers.

A bio-based platform in non-toxic hosts is needed to stabilize supply and purity.

Solutions

CD Biosynsis provides flexible, non-toxic production platforms for Ricinoleic Acid RA:

Engineering Non-Toxic Oilseed Crops

           

We engineer safe oilseed plants e.g. Camelina sativa to overexpress the FAH12 hydroxylase for high RA accumulation in seeds.

Yeast Biosynthesis Platform

We introduce the Hydroxy Fatty Acid pathway into yeast hosts e.g. Yarrowia lipolytica or S. cerevisiae to achieve high titer fermentation of RA.

Customized Fatty Acid Profile

We engineer fatty acid synthesis to control chain length and hydroxyl position, allowing production of RA variants for specialized polymers.

Bioprocess Optimization

We optimize fermentation conditions and downstream oil extraction to maximize yield and purity of the bio-based RA.

These engineered platforms provide a non-toxic, scalable, and stable alternative to castor-based RA supply.

Advantages

Our Ricinoleic Acid RA engineering service offers these core benefits:

Eliminates Ricin Toxicity

Production in non-toxic plants e.g. Camelina or yeast completely removes the risk of ricin contamination and detoxification costs.

Stable and Predictable Yields

Fermentation or controlled oilseed engineering ensures consistent and high yields independent of climate and geographical instability.

Access to Customizable Hydroxy Lipids

The yeast platform allows for genetic manipulation to produce novel hydroxy fatty acids beyond natural castor oil diversity.

Sustainable Feedstock Use

Uses renewable sugars e.g. glucose or non-food biomass in yeast or non-food oilseeds, reducing competition with food supply.

Enhanced Downstream Purity

The engineered process eliminates complex detoxification steps, simplifying downstream processing and achieving higher purity RA for polymer grade.

We provide a sustainable, non-toxic, and high-performance RA production platform.

Process

Our Ricinoleic Acid RA engineering service follows a rigorous multi-stage workflow:

• Targeted FAH12 Overexpression: Clone and express Ricinus communis FAH12 Hydroxylase in oilseed plants or yeast to convert oleate to RA.
• Fatty Acid Precursor Tuning: Metabolically engineer host strains to maximize oleic acid precursor availability for RA synthesis.
• Plant Transformation or Yeast Fermentation: Perform stable plant transformation e.g. Agrobacterium-mediated or optimize fed-batch yeast fermentation for RA production.
• Lipid Extraction and Purity: Optimize mild oil extraction from seeds or yeast biomass followed by purification to high purity RA.
• Validation: Perform GC-MS analysis to validate RA titer, yield, and fatty acid composition in the final oil.

Technical communication is maintained throughout the process, focusing on timely feedback regarding yield and product stability attributes.

Explore the potential for a stable, non-toxic, Ricinoleic Acid RA supply. CD Biosynsis provides customized strain and process engineering solutions:

• Detailed Ricinoleic Acid Titer, Yield, and Oil Composition Reports percent of total fatty acids, g/L in fermentation.
• Consultation on downstream polymerization and Nylon precursor conversion using bio-based RA.
• Experimental reports include complete raw data on hydroxylase activity, fatty acid profiling, and scale-up stability assays.