HYDROCOW: Engineering Xanthobacter SoF1 for the production of milk proteins

The increasing world population, overshoot of planetary boundaries and global warming require the development of more environmentally friendly methods of agriculture. Milk protein make up approximately 12% of the globally consumed protein1. The protein beta- lactoglobulin (BLG) is a major component in the fraction of cow and sheep’s milk. It contains more essential and branched chain amino acids than most dietary proteins and is used as an ingredient in many foods, facilitating use in existing food production chains2. The project HYDROCOW aims to engineer the Gram-negative hydrogen oxidizing (HOB) bacterium Xanthobacter SoF1 to become a platform for the secretion of milk proteins where BLG will be used as a pilot protein. This project will help lead the development of a net-zero carbon, animal-free food production process.