Let us imagine a future where prosperity does not imply damaging our planet. Today, agriculture, livestock and fishing overexploit ecosystems and the combustion of fossil raw materials such as oil and coal increases the temperature of the planet. The bioeconomy proposes not only to replace the fossil raw materials that were the basis of our progress, but also to optimize the use of biological resources. In these lines we will take a look at possible biotechnological solutions to some of humanity's problems.
The Plant Kingdom
Plants are unfairly underestimated by most people. Why is this so? Is it because they only produce part of the oxygen we breathe? Possibly because they don't move, they might assume that they don't do anything fun, and for this reason they tend to go unnoticed, at least by many.
The plant kingdom is one of the most diverse sources of potentially active compounds. Plants are sessile organisms -they cannot move- and throughout evolution they developed different mechanisms to defend themselves from attack by herbivores, bacteria and fungi, causing a kind of chemical warfare by means of natural substances. These molecules they produce can be used for the production of cosmetics, medicines or even biological pesticides. It is common knowledge to take advantage of the leaves, stems, flowers and fruits of plants, but their roots are rarely mentioned. In many species, roots are the richest plant structures in these compounds.
There is a technology known as plant milking, which makes it possible to obtain concentrated extracts from the secretion of living roots, preserving their integrity. This makes it possible to milk the same plants several times a year to obtain high-value biological products. But how does the process work? The plants are grown in a soil-less greenhouse, with the roots suspended in the air while being fed by a sprayer that provides them with all the nutrients they need. Then, for milking, the roots are immersed in a solvent for a few minutes, in a process that can vary somewhat depending on each plant and molecule to be extracted.
The potential of this technique makes it possible to produce in an area of 1000 square meters, as many molecules as in 30 hectares of conventional cultivation, that is to say, a cultivation area 300 times smaller is required to obtain the same amount of molecules.
Lab-grown meat
A few years ago, it was unthinkable that meat could be eaten without relying on animals to obtain it. Today it is not a promise, but a reality.
Lab-grown meat is a product made from cells grown outside an animal's body. The procedure begins with obtaining a small sample of muscle tissue in a procedure that is harmless to animals, which is then broken down in the laboratory and cells called satellite cells are isolated. The normal function of these cells in the organism is to replenish the tissue when it is damaged, and it is this capacity that is used to generate cultured meat.
The satellite cells are placed in a container with nutrients that allow them to multiply as they would inside an animal. These cells then associate naturally forming structures called myotubules of less than half a centimeter, which together with a suitable support group together to form small rings of muscle tissue.
Now, for us, eating meat does not only imply eating muscle cells. We also ingest cells of other tissues such as adipose and blood, which together make the taste we are accustomed to. Thus, a hamburger made with the aforementioned rings of muscle tissue would in no way taste like "meat".
However, today there are 3D printers, which combine different cell types produced in this way to generate whole pieces designed by software that have little to envy to a cut bought in a butcher's shop, beyond the texture.
In 2013, the first hamburger generated by this technology cost 280 thousand dollars. In 2019 the price dropped to 20 thousand dollars a kilo, and today it is marketed in several countries with competitive prices.The production of meat with this methodology allows generating the equivalent of 80 thousand hamburgers with only an initial tissue sample of one cubic centimeter starting, and compared to traditional production methods, cultured meat needs only 1% of the land used for livestock farming, and reduces by more than 95% the emission of greenhouse gases and water consumed.
Generating Food from the Air
Sometimes fact beats fiction. Hundreds of years ago it was scientifically proven that there is no such thing as spontaneous generation, that nothing can appear by itself, but... can you imagine food appearing from the air?
There is food produced by cellular agriculture called Solein, which contains about 70% protein. Moreover, it can be produced anywhere in the world without harming the environment. Solein comes as a dry powder that has organoleptic characteristics similar to wheat flour and is made up of microbial proteins containing all the essential amino acids. It is produced using hydrogenotrophic bacteria that feed on hydrogen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen.
The production of Soleil requires only 0.1% of the soil and 1% of the water used for equivalent animal protein production, and is already approved in Singapore for commercialization. Although one of the limitations of the technique is energy consumption, the process is 10 times more efficient than plant photosynthesis in generating food, and can be performed anywhere on the planet.
The journey through the world of the bioeconomy is proof that there is no shortage of ideas. These were just three of many examples of existing biotechnological solutions to current and future problems, demonstrating that humans are capable of using technology to manage resources more efficiently and in a more environmentally friendly way. It is up to us to create a future that is worthwhile.
Author: Martín Vadillo
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