Project Detail:
Ginger water (or ginger tea) is an herbal drink that has gained popularity in recent years due to its spicy flavor and positive health effects. The production of instant ginger drink in industrial scale, however, has left us with large amounts of ginger bagasse, which normally would be sold cheaply as fertilizers. Thus, to increase the values of the agricultural by-products, we have previously identify bacteria with abilities to biotransform a major active chemical in ginger bagasse to a more valuable compound. The current project will further explore this possibility by identifying enzymes responsible for this biotransformation.