Unlocking the genomic potential of aerobes and phototrophs for the production of nutritious and palatable microbial food without arable land or fossil fuels

Abstract

Renewable H 2 -and CO 2 -derived compounds as novel resource framework for microbial biomass production Food production and the planetary boundaries are already beyond the limits of sustainability (Steffen et al., 2015), yet even more pressure on Earth's carrying capacity is expected with the global population projected to reach 9.2-12.3 billion people by the turn of the century and the rise in living standards (Gerland et al., 2014). Structural changes of the agricultural-based food chain are required to increase food production and simultaneously reduce the environmental footprint (Horton, 2017). An alternative route to conventional food is the production of microorganisms as a source of human food also known as microbial protein or single-cell protein (Pikaar et al., 2018). The cultivation of microorganisms for food has many environmental benefits compared to agricultural crop production such as a reduction in arable land expansion, greenhouse gas

Microbial food from light, carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas: Kinetic, stoichiometric and nutritional potential of three purple bacteria

“…bacteria, algae, yeast and other fungi) for feed or food purposes has been coined 'single cell protein' or 'microbial protein' (MP). Traditionally, the production of MP was predominantly focused on the use of agricultural products or fossil fuels (landand fossil-based) as electron donors and/or carbon sources (Alloul et al 2021). Pikaar et al (2018) showed that MP produced on sugar cane waste (land-and fossilbased) could lower global crop area use, global nitrogen losses from croplands and agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by respectively 10%, 2% and 1%.…”

“…Current routes that are being targeted for land-and fossil-free MP production are (phototrophic) microalgae, aerobic hydrogen oxidizing bacteria, methylotrophs or acetotrophs (Alloul et al 2021). Other appealing microbes for MP production are the purple bacteria (PB).…”

“…Fortunately, both aspects are individually approached in the parallel research, development and innovation activities of two other types of MP or microbial biomass: HOB and microalgae (in closed photobioreactors), respectively. Therefore, the challenge moves to integrating the 'best of both worlds', and balance the availability of H2 and light.HOB production is currently at the stage of industrial validation with microbial products such as Solein, Novomeal and Proton(Alloul et al 2021). Of particular interest here is that the biomass and protein yields of photohydrogenotrophic PB are significantly higher than for HOB, which in combination with their lower growth rates and biomass levels leads to a considerable 142 times lower volumetric H2 demand rate(Ishizaki and Tanaka 1990, Matassa et al 2016).…”

From renewable energy to sustainable protein sources: Advancement, challenges, and future roadmaps

“…As explained above, the industrial biotechnological applications of MOB are mainly focused on the production of biomass for animal feed formulations [68]. Regarding product quality, a recent study compared the commercial FeedKind® (Calysta, USA) with traditional fishmeal revealing the high potential of M. capsulatus to be used as an alternative protein source in aquaculture [69].…”

A comprehensive survey on computational learning methods for analysis of gene expression data

“…Genomics is a study of the information structure and function programmed in the genome. Genomics has applications in multiple fields, including medicine (Chen et al, 2018;Lai et al, 2020;Huang et al, 2021), agriculture (Abberton et al, 2016;Parihar et al, 2022), industrial biotechnology (Alloul et al, 2022), synthetic biology (Baltes and Voytas, 2015), etc.…”