Air Protein (SCP) Strain Engineering for CO2 Fixation

Air protein, or Single Cell Protein ( SCP), represents a breakthrough in sustainable food production, converting gaseous carbon sources ( CO2, CH4) and nitrogen into high-quality protein biomass. Key challenges in commercialization include the low utilization rate of gas substrates , slow growth kinetics of the host bacteria, and insufficient final protein purity required for human consumption.

CD Biosynsis focuses on enhancing the efficiency of the core metabolic process: carbon fixation. We employ precise modification of microbial chassis carbon metabolism pathways and genetic strategies to enhance CO2 fixation via the Calvin cycle (or equivalent pathways). Our goal is to achieve a significant increase in growth rate and biomass yield while minimizing non-protein byproducts. We provide high-performance, food-grade engineered strains to accelerate the industrialization of sustainable, future-ready food sources.

Pain Points

The transition to large-scale, cost-effective air protein production faces several critical biological limitations:

• Low Substrate Utilization Rate: The microbial host often struggles with the efficient capture and utilization of gaseous substrates ( CO2 or H}_2/ O2), leading to a low gas-to-biomass conversion rate and high residual gas cost.
• Slow Bacterial Growth: Compared to traditional heterotrophic fermentation, the growth kinetics of autotrophic and hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria are often slow , necessitating extended fermentation cycles and increasing production costs.
• Insufficient Protein Purity: Non-protein components, such as nucleic acids (RNA/DNA) and carbohydrates, often accumulate, leading to low final protein purity and potential issues with flavor, digestibility, and food-grade regulatory compliance.
• Energy Constraint: The high energy demand required to power the carbon fixation pathway (e.g., NAD(P)H and ATP for the Calvin cycle) is often constrained within the microbial chassis, limiting overall pathway flux.

Overcoming these challenges requires metabolic reprogramming to prioritize carbon fixation and protein synthesis.

Solutions

CD Biosynsis applies advanced synthetic biology and metabolic engineering to enhance the efficiency of gas substrate conversion into high-quality protein:

Enhanced CO2 Fixation via the Calvin Cycle

           

We enhance the core carbon fixation pathway by overexpressing and optimizing the key enzyme RuBisCO and the associated regeneration enzymes, maximizing CO2 uptake and conversion efficiency.

Modification of Carbon Metabolism Pathways

The microbial chassis's central carbon metabolism is reprogrammed to prioritize flux towards amino acid synthesis pathways (the building blocks of protein), ensuring efficient conversion of fixed carbon to final product.

Growth Rate and H2 Utilization Optimization

We modify genes related to substrate transport and energy metabolism (e.g., hydrogenases in hydrogenotrophic bacteria) to improve bacterial growth kinetics, shortening the fermentation cycle and boosting overall productivity.

Protein Purity and Quality Enhancement

Genetic knockout strategies are employed to reduce the synthesis of undesirable components (e.g., non-protein RNA/DNA), significantly improving the final protein purity and nutritional profile for food applications.

This multi-target engineering ensures a significant leap in microbial performance, making SCP production both efficient and economically viable.

Advantages

Choosing CD Biosynsis's Air Protein strain engineering service offers the following core value:

Expertise in Carbon Fixation Pathways

We specialize in engineering autotrophic metabolism (Calvin cycle, Wood-Ljungdahl pathway), which is the most critical step for converting gas into biomass.

Maximized Substrate Utilization

Our engineered strains show a significantly higher gas substrate utilization rate , directly reducing raw material costs and increasing process sustainability.

Food Grade Quality Focus

We prioritize genetic strategies that minimize contaminants, ensuring the final protein meets the highest purity and safety standards required for future food ingredients.

Accelerated Growth Kinetics

Engineering efforts shorten the fermentation cycle, leading to faster biomass accumulation and reduced overall operational expenditure.

Scalable and Sustainable Design

The engineered chassis is designed for robust performance in industrial bioreactors, providing a reliable and environmentally friendly protein source.

We are dedicated to providing genetically superior microbial strains to drive the commercial success of the air protein industry.

Process

CD Biosynsis's Air Protein strain engineering service follows a standardized research workflow, ensuring every step is precise and controllable:

• Host Analysis and Target Definition: Define the target biomass yield and protein purity. Conduct a preliminary flux balance analysis (FBA) on the host's carbon fixation and H2 utilization pathways to identify rate-limiting steps.
• Technical Solution Design: Formulate the engineering plan, focusing on RuBisCO optimization, CO2 transport enhancement, and protein synthesis pathway reinforcement.
• Strain Editing and Construction: Complete the construction of vectors and cell transformation. Use CRISPR or other tools for the precise editing and stable chromosomal integration of the synthetic pathways.
• Performance Validation Experiments: Conduct comparative fermentation experiments under gaseous feeding (e.g., H}_2/ CO2), measuring the difference in biomass yield ( g/L), specific growth rate, and final protein content between the engineered strain and the parent strain.
• Result Report Output: Compile a Strain Engineering Experimental Report that includes fermentation kinetics, gas utilization rates, and detailed nutritional analysis (amino acid profile, protein purity) , supporting food regulatory submissions.

Technical communication is maintained throughout the process, focusing on timely performance feedback and strategic adjustments to the metabolic engineering plan.

Accelerate your Air Protein R&D and scale-up! CD Biosynsis provides customized SCP strain engineering solutions:

• Detailed FBA and Carbon Fixation Pathway Report , outlining the most impactful genetic targets.
• Contracted clients receive consultation on optimizing bioreactor design for enhanced gas mass transfer efficiency .
• Experimental reports include complete raw data on growth kinetics, gas conversion efficiency, and protein profile , essential for commercialization.