A leader in the
emerging field of
synthetic biology, Amyris is well known for developing a strain of yeast for large - scale manufacture of a precursor to the antimalarial
drug artemisinin, for which the Asian plant source is in short supply.
With genetically engineered microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, playing an increasing role in the green chemistry production of valuable chemical products including therapeutic
drugs, advanced biofuels and biodegradable plastics from renewables, Cas9 is
emerging as an important genome - editing tool for practitioners of
synthetic biology.