Creating Exotic Scents With Modified Yeasts
基改酵母釀造出異國風味
By Andrew Pollack

EMERYVILLE, Calif. – Vanilla, saffron, patchouli. For centuries, spices and flavorings like these have come from exotic plants growing in remote places like the jungles of Mexico or the terraced hillsides of Madagascar. Some were highly prized along ancient trading routes like the Silk Road.
香草，番紅花，廣藿香。幾世紀以來，諸如此類香料和調味品取自異國植物，這些植物則生長在遙遠的地方，像是墨西哥的叢林或馬達加斯加的山坡。有些調味品和香料在絲路和其他古代貿易路線上身價不凡。

Now a powerful form of genetic engineering could revolutionize the production of some of the most sought-after flavors and fragrances. Rather than being extracted from plants, they are being made by genetically modified yeast or other micro-organisms cultured in huge industrial vats.
如今，一種很犀利的基因工程可能讓一些最受歡迎的味道和香氣的製造過程產生革命性變化。它們不從植物萃取，而是用基因改造酵母或其他在巨型工業桶中培養的微生物製成。

“It’s just like brewing beer, but rather than spit out alcohol, the yeast spits out these products,” said Jay D. Keasling of Amyris, a company based here that is a pioneer in the field. However, while yeast makes alcohol naturally, it would not produce the spices without extensive genetic manipulation.
阿米瑞斯生技公司的齊斯陵說：「這就像用酵母釀啤酒，但做的不是酒精，而是這些產品。」阿米瑞斯是這個領域的先鋒，總部在美國加州愛莫利維爾市。酵母可以自然釀酒，但若未經深度基因控制就無法製作調味品。

The advent of synthetic biology raises complex economic and regulatory issues, such as whether such yeast-made ingredients can be called natural and whether developing countries dependent on these crops will be hurt.
「合成生物學」的出現引發複雜的經濟與管理問題，例如，這類用酵母製作的成分可否稱為天然，仰賴這些香料作物的開發中國家會不會受創。

Supporters say the technique could benefit food and cosmetic companies, and consumers, by reducing wild swings in price, availability and quality that come from dependence on agriculture.
支持者說，這種技術可以藉由減少原料價格、取得容易程度與品質（這些都倚賴農業）的劇烈變動，嘉惠食品、化妝品公司和消費者。

The products, which taste or smell nearly the same as the real thing, are coming quickly and even moving beyond flavors and fragrances to include other commodities, like rubber and drugs.
這些產品嘗起來或聞起來幾可亂真，即將登場，而且在香料與香味之外更及於其他商品，如橡膠與藥物。

In April, the pharmaceutical company Sanofi began commercial production of a malaria drug using baker’s yeast modified by Amyris. The drug’s ingredient is usually extracted from a shrub that grows wild in China, Vietnam and various African countries.
今年四月，賽諾菲藥廠開始用阿米瑞斯公司的基改焙用酵母量產瘧疾藥物。這種成分通常萃取自生長於中國、越南與多個非洲國家的一種灌木。

Evolva, a Swiss company, is about to start marketing yeast-made vanillin, the main component of vanilla. The companies, Isobionics and Allylix, are separately producing valencene, a flavoring usually extracted from oranges, and nootkatone, a grapefruit flavor.
瑞士Evolva生技公司即將開始販售酵母製成的香草醛，這是香草的主要成分。Isobionics與Allylix公司正在生產通常萃取自柳橙的香料瓦倫烯，與葡萄柚風味的諾卡酮。

“It’s really environmentally friendly. The whole process is sustainable,” said Toine Janssen, chief executive of Isobionics, based in the Netherlands.
荷蘭Isobionics公司執行長楊森說：「這真的對環境很友善，整個過程都合乎永續原則。」

But critics say the technology threatens the livelihoods and exports of developing countries. “They are going after pockets of tropical farmers around the world,” said Jim Thomas, a researcher at the ETC Group, a Canadian technology watchdog.
不過批評者說，這種科技威脅到開發中國家的生計與出口。監督科技業的加拿大「反對侵蝕、慎用技術、集中資源行動組織」研究員托馬斯說：「他們是在追逐全球熱帶農民的錢。」

Rick Brownell of the Virginia Dare Extract Company, a supplier of natural vanilla based in New York, said 80,000 farmers in Madagascar, one of the world’s poorest countries, grow vanilla beans.
紐約天然香草供應商「維吉尼亞‧戴爾精華公司」的布朗諾說，世界最窮國之一馬達加斯加有八萬農民種香草豆。

Chemically synthesized substitutes for vanillin and other extracts already exist and fermentation has long been used to make some vitamins and citric acid. But proponents of synthetic biology say that the more extensively modified yeast can make things that cannot be synthesized chemically and could not previously be made by fermentation. They also say the resulting products might be more natural than chemical substitutes.
雖然目前已有化學合成的香草醛與其他萃取物代用品，發酵也長期被用來製作某些維生素和檸檬酸，但合成生物學的支持者說，基因改造程度更深的酵母可製作無法化學合成，和以往無法以發酵製成的產品。支持者還說，此法製成的產品可能比化學代用品更天然。

“The need for natural is the key driver,” said Ahmet Baydar, director of research and development at International Flavors and Fragrances, the company that will market Evolva’s vanillin.
即將販賣Evolva公司香草醛的「國際香料公司」研發部門負責人拜達說：「對天然的需求是主要的驅動力。」

Evolva’s vanillin cannot be called natural vanilla, because the vanilla bean product contains components besides vanillin. But it conceivably could be called a natural ingredient since it is made in a living organism, said John B. Hallagan, general counsel of the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association.
Evolva的香草醛不能稱為天然香草，因為香草豆的製品除了香草醛外還含有其他成分。不過，「美國香料及抽出物製造者協會」法律總顧問哈勒根說，把香草醛稱為天然成分可以理解，因為它是在活的有機體內製成。

International Flavors and Fragrances is hoping that the vanillin will attract food companies that want to label their products all-natural but do not want to pay the higher price for natural vanilla.
「國際香料公司」希望香草醛能吸引想標示產品純天然、卻不想花更多錢購買天然香草的食品公司。

But the environmental group Friends of the Earth has started a campaign to pressure ice cream makers into rejecting the vanillin. “There’s nothing ‘natural’ about genetically engineered yeast that excretes vanilla flavoring,” it said in an August e-mail to members.
不過，環保團體「地球之友」已展開行動，要向冰淇淋製造商施壓，促使他們拒用香草醛。地球之友在八月一封寫給成員的電郵中說：「分泌散發香草味的基因改造酵母一點也不『天然』。」

The companies say their products can be cheaper than those from plants, though some experts say that has yet to be proved.
這些公司說，他們的產品比取自植物的便宜，不過有些專家對此存疑。

“You would have to have a very high yield to compete with plants that are so good at doing this,” said Peter Facchini, a plant biologist at the University of Calgary.
加拿大卡加利大學植物生物學家法基尼說：「你的產量一定要非常之高，才能與精於此道的植物競爭。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/21/business/whats-that-smell-exotic-scents-made-from-re-engineered-yeast.html

2013-11-12聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 李京倫譯 原文參見紐時週報八版右