Unlocking potato protein potential
The versatile potato contains important nutrients for humans and animals, including protein. In recent years, scientists have been finding ways to utilize this plant protein to augment or replace animal protein.
Maya Sapir-Mir is CEO and co-founder of PoLoPo, an Israeli-based molecular farming company that produces proteins directly from common crops, beginning with egg protein (ovalbumin) grown in potatoes. With nearly 10 years’ experience in the biotech industry and agricultural research and development, she holds a doctorate in plant sciences from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
“Molecular farming is an innovative field of biotechnology that uses plants as living factories to produce metabolites such as proteins, pigments, sugars, fatty acids and more,” Sapir-Mir said.
She said current leaders in the emerging field include Nobell Foods (USA), Moolec Science (UK) and BioBetter (Israel), along with PoLoPo.
PoLoPo was founded in 2022 by scientists who understand plant genetics and protein expression. The company has won multiple innovation awards and has raised $2.3 million for its research from leading food-tech investors including FoodLabs, Milk & Honey Ventures, CPT Capital, Siddhi Capital, Plug and Play and Hack Capital.
The basics of molecular farming
Molecular farming combines the advantages of its two separate components: the growth potential inherent in plants and the scientific possibility of synthetic biology. The science is complementary to the current food industry, which utilizes food-processing lines to turn crops into ingredients for many things besides food.
“Molecular farming startups can utilize those lines for their various needs, and rely on a well-established infrastructure,” Sapir-Mir said. “This can help food companies produce higher-value and more sustainable products.”
PoLoPo turned to potatoes to produce animal proteins in common plant crops because of their low cost, high yield and ability to grow in diverse climates.
“These plants reach maturity quickly, and have a large storage capacity in the form of tubers,” Sapir-Mir said. “Equally important is the fact there is a well-established infrastructure of harvesting and processing technology that turns potatoes into foods we love.”
Postharvest, tubers are harvested, and their proteins are extracted and dried into powder. Even though this powder is derived from genetically engineered plants, the resulting protein powder contains no genetic material and is thus considered non-GMO, Sapir-Mir said.
“Those powders can seamlessly integrate into existing food processing lines and formulations. The proteins are chemically identical, with the same functionality, taste and nutritional value,” Sapir-Mir said.
PoLoPo’s first success was developing ovalbumin — egg protein — in potatoes, which can replace actual egg protein in various products. Egg protein from chicken eggs is used worldwide to provide texture and stability and to extend the shelf life of packaged foods.
“This protein has an enormous market, and is expected to hit $36 billion by 2032. But consumers, as well as food and beverage companies, have seen ‘eggflation’ as the price of chicken feed has increased, avian influenza has decimated flocks and supply chains have grown unstable,” Sapir-Mir said.
Molecular farming can change this picture, but it requires patience. Each experiment takes time, and there is also time needed for each plant to grow fully.
“Like our colleagues in cultivated proteins and precision fermentation, we still face murky regulatory pathways, and allergy concerns still need to be resolved,” Sapir-Mir said. “For instance, does egg protein grown inside a potato trigger the same allergic reaction as egg protein that comes from a chicken?”
PoLoPo uses proprietary metabolic engineering techniques to turn potato plants into micro bio-factories that manufacture the target proteins. Its platform is capable of producing ovalbumin in potatoes but also increases the potato’s naturally occurring protein (patatin).
When PoLoPo started talking to customers about its egg protein, many of those customers also wanted to buy patatin, so PoPolo developed a process it expects to produce large volumes of functional patatin affordably.
Patatin is usually very expensive, requiring a lot of extracting and drying for little yield. Current prices of functional patatin are more than $100 per kilogram ($220 per pound). PoLoPo potatoes, however, naturally contain much higher levels of patatin (in addition to ovalbumin), making the economics of producing it more feasible.
Protein path forward
On Aug. 27, PoLoPo announced that it will begin supplying patatin to commercial clients following regulatory approval.
“Because patatin is the potato’s native protein, we expect it will be a relatively easy regulatory process and a fast time-to-market,” Sapir-Mir said.
Patatin is a versatile protein with a protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) of 0.99. PDCAAS is a measurement of how well a protein in food can be used by the body for tissue growth and maintenance. PDCAAS values range from 0 to 1, with 1 being the highest possible score. A PDCAAS value of 1 indicates that a protein provides 100% or more of the amino acids needed in the diet.
Patatin, with essential amino acids valued in the food/beverage and nutraceutical industries, is used in plant-based meat and dairy products for emulsifying, gelling and texturizing as well as bakery and protein drinks. In contrast, most potato proteins on the market are nonfunctional, since manufacturing destroys the proteins while extracting potato starch. Non-functional potato protein is commonly used in animal feed as well as cosmetics and pharmaceuticals and is cheaper than functional protein.
Sapir-Mir said PoLoPo’s proteins will soon be available to the food industry for testing, and her company is seeking growing partners in the U.S. Last year, PoLoPo raised $2.3 million in pre-seed funding and recently unveiled its molecular farming platform, SuperAA, for producing ovalbumin and patatin.
“We are actively looking for partners in the U.S.— both growers and processors — to collaborate with,” Sapir-Mir said. “We are scaling up our production to pilot scale in Israel for product and formulation development purposes, but working with U.S. partners can extend our capacity even more.”
