Recombinant Food Proteins Expressed in E. coli as Complement to Plant Proteins in the Protein Shift
(2021) KLGM10 20211Food Technology and Nutrition (M.Sc.)
- Abstract
- Increased awareness regarding nutrition, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare has sparked a trend to shift away from animal proteins. The phenomenon is referred to as the protein shift and has resulted in a higher demand for alternative protein sources. This dissertation aims to study potential opportunities and challenges of using recombinant food proteins expressed in Escherichia coli as a complement to plant proteins and to compare sustainability, cost, functionality, and consumer acceptance.
The thesis is based on existing literature and thus takes the form of a critical literature review. Results revealed a series of opportunities and challenges. Plant proteins have a variety of functionalities which creates better... (More) - Increased awareness regarding nutrition, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare has sparked a trend to shift away from animal proteins. The phenomenon is referred to as the protein shift and has resulted in a higher demand for alternative protein sources. This dissertation aims to study potential opportunities and challenges of using recombinant food proteins expressed in Escherichia coli as a complement to plant proteins and to compare sustainability, cost, functionality, and consumer acceptance.
The thesis is based on existing literature and thus takes the form of a critical literature review. Results revealed a series of opportunities and challenges. Plant proteins have a variety of functionalities which creates better opportunities to mimic the characteristics seen in animal products. Novel methods have been discovered that enables the production of large, fibrous plant-based whole cuts. Challenges that remain are mimicking of marbled fat in meat analogs and off-flavors in plant-based milk. The most prominent advantages of recombinant proteins are cost- and time efficiency and that they can be modified to exclude allergenic components. However, several parameters have to be considered when constructing a functioning bio factory which can be difficult. Additional challenges are related to consumer acceptance and legislation. An environmental assessment revealed that recombinant proteins have the potential to lower greenhouse gas emissions, but additional research should be conducted on land use and water footprint.
Recombinant food proteins may be able to compete with plant proteins in terms of cost and functionality, but not equally as much in regard to consumer acceptance. The findings suggest that recombinant proteins cannot fully replace plant proteins at the time but could be added as complementing ingredients to achieve certain properties. Future research should investigate how recombinant proteins behave in food matrices and how biofactories can be optimized with respect to organism, strain, vector, promoter and markers. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- What if we could use bacteria as miniature factories to manufacture proteins for human consumption?
Imagine that you need a specific protein to create a plant-based meat analog. You must travel across the world to find the protein as it’s only produced by a rare tropical plant. Now imagine that you could stay at home and just tell your bacteria to produce the exact same protein, at a low cost and a fast rate. Sounds too good to be true right? Fact is, it’s possible!
Increased awareness regarding sustainability, nutrition, and animal welfare has caused many to switch to plant-based diets, which is a step in the right direction. However, plant-based proteins often require processing and that can increase the environmental impact. By... (More) - What if we could use bacteria as miniature factories to manufacture proteins for human consumption?
Imagine that you need a specific protein to create a plant-based meat analog. You must travel across the world to find the protein as it’s only produced by a rare tropical plant. Now imagine that you could stay at home and just tell your bacteria to produce the exact same protein, at a low cost and a fast rate. Sounds too good to be true right? Fact is, it’s possible!
Increased awareness regarding sustainability, nutrition, and animal welfare has caused many to switch to plant-based diets, which is a step in the right direction. However, plant-based proteins often require processing and that can increase the environmental impact. By adding proteins manufactured by bacteria, we can take an even further step towards a sustainable future. With the ability to modify the DNA of bacteria, we can tell them to produce a specific protein. For instance, we could tell E. coli to produce proteins that make that plant-based burger juicier, meatier, bloodier, and overall, just more appealing. Or we could tell the bacteria to make a compound that is 100 000 times sweeter than sugar, to lower sugar consumption and improve public health.
The aim of this paper is to study the opportunities and challenges with both plant proteins and proteins produced by E. coli in food applications. Aspects that are investigated include environmental sustainability, cost, functionality, and consumer acceptance. Due to Covid-19 and social distancing, the paper is based on existing research and thus takes the form of a literature review.
Based on this investigation, it appears that the addition of modified proteins can be a viable option to consider in food. Two of the biggest challenges are to construct an efficient bacterial factory and to increase consumer acceptance. The latter may not be a challenge for long, as a combination of modified- and plant proteins have the potential to lower the environmental footprint, cost, and time, whilst increasing the quality of the product. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9059095
- author
- Izad Khast Wellerfeld, Anthon LU
- supervisor
-
- Lars Nilsson LU
- organization
- course
- KLGM10 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- recombinant food proteins, protein shift, protein functionality, plant-based, meat analogs, dairy, food technology
- language
- English
- id
- 9059095
- date added to LUP
- 2021-08-19 12:06:23
- date last changed
- 2021-08-19 12:06:23
@misc{9059095,
abstract = {{Increased awareness regarding nutrition, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare has sparked a trend to shift away from animal proteins. The phenomenon is referred to as the protein shift and has resulted in a higher demand for alternative protein sources. This dissertation aims to study potential opportunities and challenges of using recombinant food proteins expressed in Escherichia coli as a complement to plant proteins and to compare sustainability, cost, functionality, and consumer acceptance.
The thesis is based on existing literature and thus takes the form of a critical literature review. Results revealed a series of opportunities and challenges. Plant proteins have a variety of functionalities which creates better opportunities to mimic the characteristics seen in animal products. Novel methods have been discovered that enables the production of large, fibrous plant-based whole cuts. Challenges that remain are mimicking of marbled fat in meat analogs and off-flavors in plant-based milk. The most prominent advantages of recombinant proteins are cost- and time efficiency and that they can be modified to exclude allergenic components. However, several parameters have to be considered when constructing a functioning bio factory which can be difficult. Additional challenges are related to consumer acceptance and legislation. An environmental assessment revealed that recombinant proteins have the potential to lower greenhouse gas emissions, but additional research should be conducted on land use and water footprint.
Recombinant food proteins may be able to compete with plant proteins in terms of cost and functionality, but not equally as much in regard to consumer acceptance. The findings suggest that recombinant proteins cannot fully replace plant proteins at the time but could be added as complementing ingredients to achieve certain properties. Future research should investigate how recombinant proteins behave in food matrices and how biofactories can be optimized with respect to organism, strain, vector, promoter and markers.}},
author = {{Izad Khast Wellerfeld, Anthon}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Recombinant Food Proteins Expressed in E. coli as Complement to Plant Proteins in the Protein Shift}},
year = {{2021}},
}