Paecilomyces variotii

Technical Data

Type of microorganism	Fungus
Microorganism name	Paecilomyces variotii
Temperature range	30°C (Silva et al., 1995)
pH range	pH 4-6 (Silva et al., 1995)
Carbon and nitrogen source	Spent sulphite liquor (Pereira et al., 2010) Eucalyptus hemicellulose hydrolyzate fortified with urea and rice bran solutions (Silva et al., 1995)
Growth rate (µ)	0.10/hour in lab scale (Silva et al., 1995)
Companies (product)	EniferBio (PEKILO)
Wild-type or GMO	Wild-type
Feedstock case studies (suitable substrates)	Eucalyptus hemicellulose hydrolyzate (Silva et al., 1995) Spent sulphide liquor (Pereira et al., 2010)
% SCP (w/w percentage of protein in dried biomass)	41.3% (Pereira et al., 2010) 34% on lab scale (Silva et al., 1995)
cell biomass dry weight (CDW) = biomass yield? (g/L or g/g?) (weight of biomass/total weight or volume)	0.0635% (w/v) on lab scale in bioreactor (Silva et al., 1995) on eucalyptus hemicellulosic hydrolyzate
Protein content in final product	60% (w/w) in pet food (PEKILOpet) Up to 65% (w/w) in fish feed (PEKILOaqua)
Protein titer (g/L or g/g?) grams of protein / total weight or volume	0.216% (w/v) (own calculation based on Silva et al. (1995)). Done on lab scale in bioreactor on eucalyptus hemicellulosic hydrolyzate
Productivity (g/Lh)	0.26 on lab scale in bioreactor on eucalyptus hemicellulosic hydrolyzate (Silva et al., 1995)
Protein yield on C-source (% w/w)	51% (w/w) on sulphide spent liquor (Pereira et al., 2010) (own calculations). Scale not mentioned. *
Scale	lab scale (Silva et al., 1995); industrial scale (PEKILO)
Downstream purification processing complexity	No info about downstream proces, most likely similar processing as other fungi products.
Nucleic acid content	12.8% (Pereira et al., 2010)
Techno-functional and/or nutritional properties (e.g. meat-like texture, amino acid profile, digestibility)	High protein content (all amino acids present) (Silva et al., 1995) High digestibility (Nordlund et al., 2024) Meat-like texture (Koivurinta et al., 1979)
Target application (Food, feed, other)	Primarily used in feed sector (aquaculture), also used as pet food. Recently authorized in Europe for use in food.
Advantages	Exhibits immunomodulatory effects in the distal intestine of salmon when included in their feed. (Javet et al., 2023)
Challenges (Key limitations, risk factors)	Well-known food spoilage agent. Heat-inactivation very important, but organism has high heat resistance. Can cause severe infection in immunocomprimised people. (Moreira et al., 2018)
Regulatory status in Europe	Allowed for feed (long history as use in aquaculture). Recently approved as a safe Novel Food
Regulatory status in other parts of the world	Not allowed as biomass fermentation product in the US, Canada or Singapore, not for food, nor for feed.
Extra/remark
Publications/references	Pereira, S., Ivanuša, Š., Luzeiro, J., Mateus, C., Serafim, L., & Xavier, A. (2010). Single Cell Protein production by Paecilomyces variotii from Spent Sulphite Liquor. Journal of Biotechnology, 150, 509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.09.802 Koivurinta, J., Kurkela, R., & Koivistoinen, P. (1979). Uses of Pekilo, a microfungus biomass from Paecilomyces varioti in sausage and meat balls. International Journal of Food Science & Technology, 14(6), 561–570. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1979.tb00902.x 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 Javet, S., Hooft, J. M., Øverland, M., & Mydland, L. T. (2023, June). Filamentous fungi (Paecilomyces variotii) as an alternative sustainable ingredient in diets for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) : effects on pellet quality, growth performance, nutrient digestibility and utilization, and immune-related biomarkers in the distal intestine during the freshwater phase. https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3078360 Silva, J. B. a. E., De Mancilha, I. M., Vannetti, M. C. D., & Teixeira, M. A. (1995). Microbial protein production by Paecilomyces variotii cultivated in eucalyptus hemicellulosic hydrolyzate. Bioresource Technology, 52(2), 197–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/0960-8524(95)00029-e Moreira, D. C., Oliveira, M. M. E., & Borba, C. M. (2018). Human Pathogenic Paecilomyces from Food. Microorganisms, 6(3), 64. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms6030064