Chinese researchers create protein to feed animals from charcoal

A team of researchers chinese has developed a method to create protein using methanol derived from coal in order to satisfy the growing demand for animal feed.

This is the first time that protein production from coal is economically viable, explained Professor Wu Xin of the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“Research on the synthesis of cellular proteins from methanol began in the 1980s. However, due to high costs, protein products synthesized from methanol could not compete with soy protein and have not been produced. on a large scale”said Wu in an article published in the scientific journal Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts.

To solve the problem, his team collected more than 20,000 yeast samples from vineyards, forests and swamps across China, from which they identified strains capable of efficiently using various sugars and alcohols as carbon sources.

By deleting specific genes in a wild strain of a type of yeast that goes by the scientific name “pichia pastoris,” the experts created a new yeast with improved methanol tolerance and metabolic efficiency.

“The conversion efficiency of methanol into protein reached 92% of the theoretical value”, reported the Chinese Academy of Sciences, cited by the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post.

The high conversion rate makes this method of protein production economically attractive, added to the fact that “it does not require arable land, is not affected by seasons and climate, and is a thousand times more efficient than traditional agricultural practices,” according to Professor Wu.

China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said last month that the country’s animal feed production reached 287 million tons in the first 11 months of the year, a 4% more than in the same period of the previous year.

By 2023, the Asian country’s total animal feed consumption is expected to reach 476 million tons, although the Ministry has implemented a three-year action plan for “reduction and substitution” of soybean meal in animal feed, as part of efforts to “guarantee food security” and “stable supply of the main products agricultural”.