Abstract:

Protein is one of the important nutrients in sustaining human health. With the development of society and the growth of population, customers' demand for high quality and diverse protein products is increasing. As the traditional approaches to obtain protein resources from animals and plants are restricted by land resources and climate, which leads to the tension supply of protein resources. Microorganisms can grow at high densities by using cheap biomass, and the proteins obtained from the microorganisms not only possess high content, but also rich in essential amino acids needed by human body, which is regarded as an ideal protein sources in the future. Therefore, to explore alternative resources of high-quality protein, single-cell proteins produced by microbial “cell factories” are expected to be a new route for high-quality protein bio-manufacturing, which will alleviate the shortage of protein resources in China. Focusing on the development and application of yeast single-cell proteins, we summarized the current applications and prospects of yeast single-cell proteins as feed protein additives and functional protein foods. Meanwhile, we also introduced relevant studies on the synthesis of specific proteins from yeast “cell factory” by using synthetic biology strategies, as well as discussed the potential safety issues that will face by single-cell proteins from yeast “cell factory” in food industry. We expect that this review article will provide research strategies and references for the investigation and development of new protein resources in China.

Key words: single-cell protein, yeast cell factory, feed protein, functional protein food