A new experimental technology that works with renewable energy sources makes it possible to obtain proteins and vitamin B9 from microbes that are fed on hydrogen, oxygen and CO2, according to a published study. Trends in Biotechnology.
It’s a fermentation process similar to that of beer, but instead of giving the microbes sugar, they get gas and acetate, explains research team leader Largus Angenent from the University of Tübingen (Germany).
This technology could be used in the future to produce a sustainable protein alternative enriched with micronutrients, although there is still work to be done to reach this point.
Yeast can produce vitamin B9 on its own with sugar, but the researchers wondered if this could be achieved with acetate.
Two-stage system
The team designed a two-stage bioreactor system that produces yeast rich in protein and vitamin B9. The latter is also known as folate and is essential for bodily functions such as cell growth and metabolism.
In the first stage, bacteria Thermoanaerobacter kivui it converts hydrogen and CO2 into acetate, which is found in vinegar Saccharomyces cerevisiaebetter known as baker’s yeast, they feed on acetate and oxygen to produce protein and vitamin B9.
The researchers explained that hydrogen and oxygen can be produced by striking water with electricity generated from clean energy sources such as windmills.
As a result, the acetate-fed yeast produced almost the same amount of vitamin B9 as those eating sugar, with 6 grams of harvested dry yeast covering the daily requirement of vitamin B9.
Comparable to traditional protein sources
When it comes to protein, yeast levels exceed those of beef, pork, fish and lentils.
85 grams or 6 tablespoons of yeast provides 61% of your daily protein needs, while beef, pork, fish and lentils cover 34%, 25%, 38% and 38% of your daily protein needs.
However, yeast must be treated to remove compounds that can increase the risk of gout if consumed in excess. After treatment, it covers 41% of the daily protein requirement, which is comparable to traditional protein sources.
“We are approaching 10 billion people in the world, and with climate change and limited land resources, producing enough food will become increasingly difficult,” he added.
The alternative is therefore “to grow protein in bioreactors through biotechnology instead of growing crops to feed animals. This makes agriculture much more efficient,” Angenet said, as quoted by the magazine.
In addition to running on clean energy and CO2, the system reduces carbon emissions from food production and also decouples land use from agriculture, freeing up space for conservation.
The researcher emphasized that it will not compete with farmers, but rather the technology will help them focus on producing vegetables and crops sustainably.
Now the team is planning to optimize and expand production, research food safety, perform technical and economic analysis and measure market interest.
FEW (EFE, Cell Press, Trends in Biotechnology)
