Motif FoodWorks explores molecular farming for heme proteins as precision fermentation capacity bottleneck bites

Motif FoodWorks , which right now makes myoglobin via precision fermentation, is now exploring whether corn could in addition serve as an effective host via a partnership with molecular farming startup IngredientWerks . A heme-binding protein found in the muscle tissue of cows, myoglobin helps to deliver the “flavor and aroma of real meat,” and is attracting interest from firms wanting to create meatier meat alternatives. Motif makes myoglobin using microbes, instead of cows, via precision fermentation.

Given the well-publicized costs and capacity challenges in fermentation , Motif is also exploring whether using corn as an expression system might make economic or environmental sense, said the firm in an statement Thursday. “If successful, enabling crop protein production for use in Motif’s ingredient strategy will lower both production costs and the carbon footprint created by manufacturing the ingredient. It joins a small group of molecular farming startups expressing animal proteins in genetically engineered plants and has filed patents covering the expression of myoglobin, leghemoglobin, and casein in corn.

Going to IngredientWerks CEO Matt Plavan, speaking to Motif for “quite some time before formally engaging. Even with extensive processing requirements, it still pales in comparison, from a capex standpoint, to what it takes to stand up a fermentation facility, ​maintained Plavan.

Per to Plavan, corn is an ideal host for a number of reasons, the most obvious being that there are ethanol makers everywhere who separate the starch and protein from corn, providing a built-in infrastructure. Corn varieties developed by IngredientWerks have as well delivered high yields of animal proteins such as casein and myoglobin, he told reporters. While the regulatory pathway for approving new GM crops can be lengthy, he conceded, the team at IngredientWerks already has experience of going through the US regulatory process to commercialize ingredients from genetically engineered corn when they worked at AgriVida, which brought three such products to trade.

More in recent weeks, it has developed its own finished products utilizing HEMAMI and APPETEX, a move that has brought it into direct conflict with Impossible Foods. The latter has accused Motif of patent infringement ​​ ​ in a lawsuit described by Motif as a “ baseless attempt to stifle competition .” ‘We’re working with several shoppers who intend to rollout products to buyers this year featuring HEMAMI’ Motif CEO Mike Leonard briefed AFN : “We’re working with several diners who intend to rollout products to shoppers this year featuring HEMAMI.

We’re producing it in metric ton quantities with a manufacturing partner and we’re in a position today to supply shoppers that want to scale quickly. And frankly, we’ve been kind of uncoordinated as an industry on messaging what we’re about to shoppers. “The majority of shoppers are still to be reached with plant-based foods, and the reason we haven’t crossed that chasm is because of taste, texture, and nutrition.

That’s one of Motif’s fundamental hypotheses, and why we’re so focused on developing solutions.” When it comes to trade confidence in meat alternatives , he told reporters: “In 2020 and 2021, the capital marketplaces were very frothy for firms coming up in this space, and we’re going to see some consolidation. Short-term volatility is a natural consequence of the technology maturation cycle.