| Type of microorganism |
Fungus |
| Temperature range |
20-30°C (Zhuang et al., 2024)
|
| pH range |
pH 5.5-8.0 (Zhuang et al., 2024)
|
| Carbon and nitrogen source |
Primarily glucose used as C-source, and ammonium salts as N-source. Agro-industrial waste streams can also be used as source of carbon and nitrogen (Risner et al., 2023). See organism table for specific cases.
|
| Growth rate (µ) |
0.12-0.35/hour (Bajić et al., 2022)
|
| Companies |
|
| Wild-type or GMO |
Wild-type |
| Feedstock suitability |
Wide variety of agro-industrial waste streams can be used as feedstock (Rajput et al., 2024). See organism table for specific cases.
|
| % SCP (w/w percentage of protein in dried biomass) |
30-65% (Li et al., 2024)
|
| cell biomass dry weight (CDW) = biomass yield? (g/L or g/g?) (weight of biomass/total weight or volume) |
-
15-35% (w/w) depending on organism and process (see organism table)
-
0.05-5% (w/v) depending on organism and process (see organism table)
|
| Protein titer (g/L or g/g?) grams of protein / total weight or volume |
-
5-20% (w/w) depending on organism and process (see organism table)
-
0.2-2% (w/v) depending on organism and process (see organism table)
|
| Productivity (g/Lh) |
0.12-2.25 depending on organism and process (see organism table) |
| Protein yield on C-source (% w/w) |
14-25% (w/w) depending on organism and process (see organism table) |
| Scale |
From lab scale to pilot scale to industrial scale |
| Downstream purification processing complexity |
Minimal downstream processing, single centrifugation and filtration step is sufficient. Nucleic acid reduction also necessary (Ye et al., 2024)
|
| Nucleic acid content |
7-10% (Li et al., 2024)
|
| Techno-functional and/or nutritional properties (e.g. meat-like texture, amino acid profile, digestibility) |
|
| Target application (Food, feed, other) |
Mostly used as meat alternative, also used in animal feed (Zhuang et al., 2024)
|
| Advantages |
Long history of use, high cell density (Rajput et al., 2024)
|
| Challenges (Key limitations, risk factors) |
Slow growth, possibility of containing mycotoxins, potentially allergenic (Rajput et al., 2024)
|
| Regulatory status in Europe |
Some products are approved as food in Europe (see organism table) |
| Regulatory status in other parts of the world |
Some products are approved as food in the US, Canada and Singapore (see organism table) |
| Publications/references |
-
Li, Y. P., Ahmadi, F., Kariman, K., & Lackner, M. (2024). Recent advances and challenges in single cell protein (SCP) technologies for food and feed production. Npj Science of Food, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-024-00299-2
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Zhuang, Z., Wan, G., Lu, X., Xie, L., Yu, T., & Tang, H. (2024). Metabolic engineering for single-cell protein production from renewable feedstocks and its applications. Advanced Biotechnology, 2(4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44307-024-00042-8
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Bajić, B., Vučurović, D., Vasić, Đ., Jevtić-Mučibabić, R., & Dodić, S. (2022). Biotechnological Production of Sustainable Microbial Proteins from Agro-Industrial Residues and By-Products. Foods, 12(1), 107. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12010107
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Rajput, S. D., Pandey, N., & Sahu, K. (2024). A comprehensive report on valorization of waste to single cell protein: strategies, challenges, and future prospects. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 31(18), 26378–26414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-33004-7
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Pobiega, K., Sękul, J., Pakulska, A., Latoszewska, M., Michońska, A., Korzeniowska, Z., Macherzyńska, Z., Pląder, M., Duda, W., Szafraniuk, J., Kufel, A., Dominiak, Ł., Lis, Z., Kłusek, E., Kozicka, E., Wierzbicka, A., Trusińska, M., Rybak, K., Kot, A. M., & Nowacka, M. (2024). Fungal Proteins: Sources, Production and Purification Methods, Industrial Applications, and Future Perspectives. Applied Sciences, 14(14), 6259. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14146259
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Ye, L., Bogicevic, B., Bolten, C. J., & Wittmann, C. (2024). Single-cell protein: overcoming technological and biological challenges towards improved industrialization. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 88, 103171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103171
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Nordlund, E., Silventoinen-Veijalainen, P., Hyytiäinen-Pabst, T., Nyyssölä, A., Valtonen, A., Ritala, A., Lienemann, M., & Rosa-Sibakov, N. (2024). In vitro protein digestion and carbohydrate colon fermentation of microbial biomass samples from bacterial, filamentous fungus and yeast sources. Food Research International, 182, 114146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2024.114146
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Risner, D., McDonald, K. A., Jones, C., & Spang, E. S. (2023). A techno-economic model of mycoprotein production: achieving price parity with beef protein. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1204307
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