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Foods
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Recombinant Proteins for Food Applications
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Recombinant Proteins for Food Applications

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Biotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 October 2023) | Viewed by 16852

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Alejandra Acevedo-Fani

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Riddet Institute, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
Interests: relationships between the food structure; digestion and release of nutrients and bioactive compounds; encapsulation of active food ingredients; strategies to develop future food systems with better nutrition value
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Harjinder Singh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Riddet Institute, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
Interests: understanding structures; interactions and functions of food proteins; food emulsions, encapsulation, protection and delivery of bioactive compounds in foods and food formulations
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Advances in biotechnology and genetic engineering are increasingly being applied in the context of food production to produce animal proteins, often referred to as "recombinant proteins" or "alternative proteins". This trend is driven by the urgent need to improve the environmental sustainability of our current food production systems and enhance human health.  Recombinant protein technology involves the creation and insertion of specific DNA sequences into non-animal cells (e.g., plants, yeast, fungi, or bacteria). The expressed proteins can then be purified and used as a primary functional ingredient to develop animal-free cellular agriculture food products. Major challenges include the optimisation of the production processes, the improvement of product quality, safety, and increasing product diversity.

This Special Issue invites reviews, opinion articles, and original research articles in the following areas:

  • Precision fermentation technologies (e.g., recombinant protein expression in microbial and yeast systems, plant cells, and mammalian cells);
  • The isolation/purification and characterisation of expressed proteins;
  • The functionality of fermentation-produced milk proteins, egg proteins, enzymes, etc.;
  • The formulation and manufacture of food products containing recombinant proteins;
  • Cell culture technologies for animal food production (e.g., cultured meats);
  • Sensory, consumer, and regulatory aspects of recombinant food proteins.

Dr. Alejandra Acevedo-Fani
Prof. Dr. Harjinder Singh
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • cellular agriculture 
  • cultured meats 
  • milk proteins 
  • recombinant proteins 
  • protein functionality 
  • alternative proteins 
  • food applications

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 55816 KiB  
Article
Cultivation of Bovine Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Plant-Based Scaffolds in a Macrofluidic Single-Use Bioreactor for Cultured Meat
by Gilad Gome, Benyamin Chak, Shadi Tawil, Dafna Shpatz, Jonathan Giron, Ilan Brajzblat, Chen Weizman, Andrey Grishko, Sharon Schlesinger and Oded Shoseyov
Foods 2024, 13(9), 1361; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13091361 - 28 Apr 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3429
Abstract
Reducing production costs, known as scaling, is a significant obstacle in the advancement of cultivated meat. The cultivation process hinges on several key components, e.g., cells, media, scaffolds, and bioreactors. This study demonstrates an innovative approach, departing from traditional stainless steel or glass [...] Read more.
Reducing production costs, known as scaling, is a significant obstacle in the advancement of cultivated meat. The cultivation process hinges on several key components, e.g., cells, media, scaffolds, and bioreactors. This study demonstrates an innovative approach, departing from traditional stainless steel or glass bioreactors, by integrating food-grade plant-based scaffolds and thermoplastic film bioreactors. While thermoplastic films are commonly used for constructing fluidic systems, conventional welding methods are cost-prohibitive and lack rapid prototyping capabilities, thus inflating research and development expenses. The developed laser welding technique facilitates contamination-free and leakproof sealing of polyethylene films, enabling the efficient fabrication of macrofluidic systems with various designs and dimensions. By incorporating food-grade plant-based scaffolds, such as rice seeded with bovine mesenchymal stem cells, into these bioreactors, this study demonstrates sterile cell proliferation on scaffolds within macrofluidic systems. This approach not only reduces bioreactor prototyping and construction costs but also addresses the need for scalable solutions in both research and industrial settings. Integrating single-use bioreactors with minimal shear forces and incorporating macro carriers such as puffed rice may further enhance biomass production in a scaled-out model. The use of food-grade plant-based scaffolds aligns with sustainable practices in tissue engineering and cultured-meat production, emphasizing its suitability for diverse applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recombinant Proteins for Food Applications)
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16 pages, 4681 KiB  
Article
Effect of Serum and Oxygen on the In Vitro Culture of Hanwoo Korean Native Cattle-Derived Skeletal Myogenic Cells Used in Cellular Agriculture
by Sun A Ock, Kang-Min Seo, Won Seok Ju, Young-Im Kim, Ha-Yeon Wi and Poongyeon Lee
Foods 2023, 12(7), 1384; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12071384 - 24 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2612
Abstract
Skeletal muscle-derived myogenic cells (SKMCs) are novel protein sources capable of replacing animal meat. However, SKMCs have not been commercialized owing to poor productivity and the high cost of in vitro cell culture. Therefore, we cultured SKMCs in varying serum (5–20%) and oxygen [...] Read more.
Skeletal muscle-derived myogenic cells (SKMCs) are novel protein sources capable of replacing animal meat. However, SKMCs have not been commercialized owing to poor productivity and the high cost of in vitro cell culture. Therefore, we cultured SKMCs in varying serum (5–20%) and oxygen concentrations (5–20%) to investigate the parameters that most impact cell productivity (serum, hypoxia, and culture medium) and examined cell proliferation ability and genes involved in myogenesis/proliferation/apoptosis/reactive oxygen species (ROS). In fetal bovine serum (FBS) groups, hypoxia induction doubled cell number, and the 20% FBS/normoxia group exhibited similar cell numbers as 5% FBS/5% hypoxia, confirming that 5% hypoxia reduced serum requirement by four-fold. The use of 20% FBS downregulated MTF5/MYOD1/MYOG/MYH1, whereas hypoxia induction with ≤10% FBS upregulated them. Although 20% FBS lowered TERT expression through rapid cell proliferation, NOX1, a major factor of ROS, was suppressed. DMEM/F12 demonstrated better differentiation potential than F10 by upregulating MYF3/MYOD1/MYOG/MYH1 and downregulating MSTN, particularly DMEM/F12 with 2% FBS/5% hypoxia. The myogenic fusion index was higher in DMEM/F12 without FBS than in DMEM/F12 with FBS (0.5–5%); however, the total nuclei number was reduced owing to apoptosis. Therefore, high serum levels are essential in influencing SKMC growth, followed by hypoxia as a synergistic component. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recombinant Proteins for Food Applications)
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Review

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16 pages, 4971 KiB  
Review
An Overview of Recent Progress in Engineering Three-Dimensional Scaffolds for Cultured Meat Production
by Yuan Wang, Liqiang Zou, Wei Liu and Xing Chen
Foods 2023, 12(13), 2614; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12132614 - 6 Jul 2023
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 8386
Abstract
Cultured meat is a new type of green, safe, healthy, and sustainable alternative to traditional meat that will potentially alleviate the environmental impact of animal farming and reduce the requirement for animal slaughter. However, the cultured meat structures that have been prepared lack [...] Read more.
Cultured meat is a new type of green, safe, healthy, and sustainable alternative to traditional meat that will potentially alleviate the environmental impact of animal farming and reduce the requirement for animal slaughter. However, the cultured meat structures that have been prepared lack sufficient tissue alignment. To create a product that is similar in texture and taste to traditional animal meat, muscle stem cells must be organized in a way that imitates the natural structure of animal tissue. Recently, various scaffold technologies and biomaterials have been developed to support the three-dimensional (3D) cultivation and organization of muscle stem cells. Hence, we propose an overview of the latest advancements and challenges in creating three-dimensional scaffolds for the biomanufacturing of cultured meat. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recombinant Proteins for Food Applications)
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