Media

Press & Media

Resources for journalists, content creators, and media covering Scoville Splice and the Capsaicin Design Platform.

Company Overview

Scoville Splice is the Capsaicin Design Platform — a computational biology program that designed the 10 hottest pepper cultivar specifications ever conceived. Using RNA-seq gene expression profiling, metabolic flux modeling, AI-guided protein engineering, and CRISPR gene editing, the platform produced ten Capsicum chinense cultivar specifications spanning 3 million to 13 million Scoville Heat Units — up to 4.8 times hotter than the current world record holder, Pepper X (2,693,000 SHU).

Scoville Splice LLC is based in Irvine, California 92602. Website: scovillesplice.farm

Key Facts

Cultivar specifications

10

SHU range

3M – 13M

World record multiple

4.8x Pepper X

DNA constructs

25 (31,911 bp)

CRISPR guide RNAs

24

DEGs identified

4,365

Metabolites modeled

37

AI model parameters

650 million (ESM2)

Vanillylamine flux control

90%

Pun1/AT3 flux control

0%

Public Identifiers

These identifiers can be cited in reporting:

Preprint Archive

Zenodo DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23267360

Preprint

bioRxiv BIORXIV/2026/758036

DNA Sequences

GenBank SUB16548149

Patent

Patent Pending

Story Angles

The Bottleneck Nobody Saw

For decades, researchers assumed capsaicin synthase was the rate-limiting step in making hotter peppers. Scoville Splice’s flux balance analysis proved the vanillylamine supply branch controls 90% of pathway output — and capsaicin synthase controls 0%. The entire field was engineering the wrong enzyme.

AI Designs a Hotter Enzyme

Using ESM2, a 650-million-parameter protein language model, the platform scanned every possible mutation in capsaicin synthase to computationally identify enhanced variants — bringing AI protein engineering to the hot pepper world.

Breaking the Breeding Ceiling

Every previous world-record pepper was achieved through traditional selective breeding. Scoville Splice is the first program to use computational biology and gene editing to design pepper cultivars — and the first to publish synthesis-ready DNA constructs for engineered heat.

Capsaicin Without Peppers

The platform also includes a yeast chassis design — nine codon-optimized genes integrated into Saccharomyces cerevisiae for capsaicinoid fermentation, potentially enabling pharmaceutical-grade capsaicin production without growing a single plant.

Brand Guidelines

The Scoville Splice brand should be presented accurately. Key points:

  • • “Scoville Splice” is the brand name; “Capsaicin Design Platform” is the platform name
  • • Products are “engineered cultivar specifications” — not “GMO peppers”
  • • The designs are computational; physical plants have not yet been grown
  • • “Patent Pending” — do not reference specific filing numbers
  • • Official website: scovillesplice.farm

Media Inquiries

For press inquiries, interview requests, or additional information, please contact us through scovillesplice.farm. We are available for technical interviews covering the computational biology, the vanillylamine discovery, AI protein engineering, and the future of engineered food.