A team of researchers has developed a bioengineered alternative to ambergris -- a material generated in the digestive system of sperm whales that is highly prized by perfume makers.

Ambergris is a solid waxy substance produced in the intestines of whales. Biologists have theorised that this could be to protect their guts from the sharp objects that they eat, such as the beaks of squid, which are often found inside lumps of ambergris. It gets excreted (from one of two potential exits) and then floats in the sea for years before washing ashore. As it ages it develops a sweet earth scent that is highly prized by perfumiers. It has been described as "floating gold" because of its high value -- a 3kg lump of the stuff found on a beach in Lancashire this year was estimated to be worth between £40,000 and £100,000.

An alternative to ambergris already exists in the shape of a compound called Ambroxan. This was first developed in 1950 and is made from a chemical called sclareol, which is found in the Clary sage plant. However, the sage plant only produces sclareol in small amounts and it is very labour intensive to extract and purify.


A pair of researchers called Laurent Daviet and Michel Schalk at

Firmenich -- a company that creates perfumes and flavour chemicals -- have isolated the DNA from the plant that produces the two enzymes needed to create Ambroxan. They put the sage DNA into E coli bacteria and then grew it in a bioreactor to produce large amounts of sclareol in a much more cost-effective way.

The study has been published in The Journal of The American Chemical Society.

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