Biotech Advances: Plant Medicines, Protein Fermentation, Greener Manufacturing

Researchers have reported advances in sustainable biotechnology, including a method to recreate medicinal compounds from two poisonous plants, a two-step fermentation process that removes off-putting smells from plant-based proteins, and evidence that hybrid biopharmaceutical manufacturing plants are the "sweet spot" for reducing carbon footprints.

Centered on the plants wolfsbane and larkspur, the first discovery comes from a collaboration between scientists at Michigan State University and the Czech Academy of Sciences, and is published in the journal Molecular Plant. These plants cause neurotoxicity and paralysis in tiny doses but are also known to counter pain, malaria, cancer and pests. For the first time, researchers have identified the biosynthetic pathway the plants use to produce diterpenoid alkaloids, a group of toxic-yet-promising chemicals. By inserting the genetic blueprints into tobacco plants, they found six unique enzymes that successfully created the diterpenoid alkaloid atisinium, helping it fold into its complex final shape and facilitating the addition of a nitrogen source. Despite being isolated nearly 200 years ago, the related compound aconitine still has not been successfully synthesized in a lab. The discovery could eventually help create new drugs inspired by these natural products.

In a separate study published in the journal Foods, researchers developed a two-step fermentation process to remove unpleasant aromas from plant-based proteins. The approach removed between 95% and 99% of key smells, significantly outperforming one-stage fermentation across all proteins tested. The first stage used the beneficial bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum; the second used a traditional yogurt culture containing bacteria known for developing and modulating desirable aromas. The method was applied to eight plant proteins: 9% soy, pea, chickpea, mung bean, faba bean, rice, barley-rice and hemp. Adding allulose enhanced Lactobacillus plantarum activity, strawberry preserves aided the yogurt bacteria, while non-fermentable additives such as pectin, xanthan gum and oil had only minimal effects.

Separately, research comparing the environmental impact of biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities found that hybrid facilities combining stainless steel and single-use technologies have the lowest carbon footprint. A single-use run at the 2,000L scale generates up to 6.5 tons of CO2e per batch in plastic and packaging waste, while the hybrid facility used less than half of the plastics and reduced material-related carbon footprint by 62%, dropping emissions to 2.8 tons of CO2e per batch. The analysis used market-based emissions accounting data and noted that the CO2 footprint of single-use systems is significantly higher than previously assumed, while key stainless-steel process steps can now have a lower carbon footprint than their single-use counterparts. The researchers suggested retaining stainless steel for simple, high-volume operations like buffer and media preparation while keeping single-use for complex, flexible core processes such as bioreactors.