BIOBRIEF
Technical University of Munich researchers show that swapping the final enzyme in a renewable powered process lets it produce seven amino acids, the protein building blocks used in livestock feed supplements.
A team at the Technical University of Munich has expanded a single renewable-electricity process to produce seven amino acids for livestock feed. By swapping one enzyme rather than rebuilding the upstream chemistry, the same platform now makes seven of the protein building blocks instead of one (TUM press release).
The work, published in Nature Communications by Volker Sieber and doctoral candidate Viktoria Lehmann at TUM Campus Straubing, builds on a 2023 result that produced L-alanine from green methanol. The pathway runs photovoltaic electricity through electrolyzers to make hydrogen, combines that hydrogen with CO2 to form methanol, then uses specialized enzymes to convert the methanol step-by-step into a target amino acid. Changing the final enzyme changes the product, the team reports (GEN).
Feed-grade amino acids already run into the millions of tons per year in global livestock systems, where dairy cows in particular need supplemental protein to sustain high milk yields. Conventional production ties that supply to land- and water-intensive crops. Sieber positions the new process as an alternative to plant photosynthesis that is "more productive" use of land, while framing the impact as "in the long term" (IDW).
The result is a process demonstration, not a commercial plant, and one of several alternative-protein pathways under study. Cost parity with incumbent amino acid fermentation, regulatory pathway, and full land-savings life-cycle accounting all remain open.