| Type of microorganism |
Yeast |
| Temperature range |
2-45°C (Zhuang et al., 2024)
|
| pH range |
pH 2.5-8.5 (Zhuang et al., 2024)
|
| Carbon and nitrogen source |
Primarily glucose or fructose used as C-source, and ammonium salts as N-source. Agro-industrial waste streams can also be used as source of carbon and nitrogen (Martin & Chan, 2024). See organism table for specific cases.
|
| Growth rate (µ) |
0.23-1.04/hour (Bratosin et al., 2021
|
| 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) |
30–60% (Zhuang et al., 2024)
|
| cell biomass dry weight (CDW) = biomass yield? (g/L or g/g?) (weight of biomass/total weight or volume) |
-
15-55% (w/w) depending on organism and process (see organism table)
-
0.15-10% (w/v) depending on organism and process (see organism table)
|
| Protein titer (g/L or g/g?) grams of protein / total weight or volume |
0.03-3% (w/v) depending on organism and process (see organism table) |
| Productivity (g/Lh) |
0.01-4.8 depending on organism and process (see organism table) |
| Protein yield on C-source (% w/w) |
15-65% (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 |
6-12% (Li et al., 2024)
|
| Techno-functional and/or nutritional properties (e.g. meat-like texture, amino acid profile, digestibility) |
|
| Target application (Food, feed, other) |
Used in feed sector (Zhuang et al., 2024)
|
| Advantages |
Fast growth, can grow at low pH, long history of use (Rajput et al., 2024)
|
| Challenges (Key limitations, risk factors) |
High nucleic acid content (Rajput et al., 2024)
|
| Regulatory status in Europe |
Generally allowed on the market in Europe (see organism table for specific cases) |
| Regulatory status in other parts of the world |
Generally allowed on the market in the US, Canada and Singapore (see organism table for specific cases) |
| Publications/references |
-
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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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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Bratosin, B. C., Darjan, S., & Vodnar, D. C. (2021). Single Cell Protein: A Potential Substitute in Human and Animal Nutrition. Sustainability, 13(16), 9284. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169284
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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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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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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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Jach, M. E., & Serefko, A. (2018). Nutritional Yeast Biomass: Characterization and Application. In Elsevier eBooks (pp. 237–270). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-811440-7.00009-0
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Martin, G. J. O., & Chan, S. (2024). Future production of yeast biomass for sustainable proteins: a critical review. Sustainable Food Technology. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4fb00164h
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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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