Phase 1

In this phase, we produced the precursor to our project, zeaxanthin, in E. coli using a biobrick submitted by the Tokyo Tech iGEM team of 2010.

Phase 2

To successfully produce the components of saffron - i. e. crocin and safranal - it is necessary to ensure that the genes required produce their proper proteins. Thus, we inserted our constructs into E. coli and characterized the protein production of these genes to ensure that we had working biobricks.

Phase 3

To finish off the project, we wanted to actually make the red crocin and safranal, and then characterize production of these components in our cells.