Sweetener in corn: Ginkgo partners with GreenLab to scale natural sugar substitute production

09 May 2024 --- Ginkgo Bioworks has joined forces with US-based plant biotech company GreenLab to scale the production of brazzein — a sweet-tasting protein found in the fruit of the native West African Oubli plant. The novel sweetener has a sweetness factor up to 2,000 times greater than sucrose and finds widespread applications across F&B products.

This comes as consumers continue to seek healthier food options with lower sugar content, in turn fueling demand and innovation in the sugar substitutes market.

The move will help optimize GreenLab’s proprietary technology that “grows proteins inside corn kernels” by tapping into Ginkgo’s cell programming capabilities to “revolutionize” the sweetener industry with brazzein, notes the company.

“By using Ginkgo Plant Trait Services, Protein Services and Deployment Capabilities, we will be able to satisfy the demand for brazzein in the market with less risk using Ginkgo’s success-based pricing model,” says Karen Wilson, CEO of GreenLab.

“Our existing partnership with Ginkgo has enabled this unique R&D approach for a product (brazzein) that the market desperately wants.”

Leveling up brazzein formulation
GreenLab plans to use Ginkgo’s Ginkgo’s expertise in protein expression and optimization for commercial brazzein production in three ways.

GreenLab uses corn kernels to grow proteins and enzymes.The team will enhance the formation of brazzein in corn kernels by using Ginkgo Plant Trait Services to achieve economically competitive levels. Further, it aims to employ Ginkgo Protein Services to express brazzein in a “microbial chassis” using precision fermentation. 

Consequently, GreenLab will purify the formulated brazzein from the corn kernel and fermentation broth by leveraging Ginkgo deployment capabilities, details the company.

The biotech firm aims to be the “preeminent supplier of brazzein” to F&B companies by utilizing Ginkgo’s brazzein production pathways, with reduced market and technical risks.

“Protein of interest”
GreenLab’s brazzein production technique includes two commercial transformative enzymes it produces — manganese peroxidase and laccase, which the company previously used to grow corn containing brazzein.

Once the “protein of interest” is extracted from the kernel with minimal waste, the company sends most of the corn used along the existing value chain, including food, feed or fuel.

GreenLab plans to readily scale production across acres of cornfields by producing proteins in a cultivated crop, with minimal additional up-front capital and infrastructure. 

Consumers are increasingly switching to reduced sugar and sugar substitute ingredients as part of a healthy lifestyle.Scientific studies also support brazzein protein’s potential applications in foods as a natural sweetener, due to its high sweetness, organoleptic properties and long history of human consumption. 

Slashing sugar
The F&B industry is witnessing a spike in alternative sweetener innovations that can replicate sugar’s sensory and functional properties as governments and consumers increasingly seek ways to reduce sugar consumption due to health concerns, according to Innova Market Insights’ analysis.

Last week, Ingredion’s PureCircle launched a drop-in stevia solution claimed to be 100 times more soluble than Reb M stevia with a 100% sugar reduction potential.

Industry giants dsm-firmenich and Cargill’s are also exploring sugar reduction concepts with fermentation-derived plant-based sweeteners that replicate the stevia leaf-based Reb M and D and helps F&B formulators meet sugar reduction and clean label demands without compromising taste. The European Food Safety Authority and the UK Food Standards Agency recently approved the innovation.

Meanwhile, sweetener formulator Sweegen is tapping into taste modulation technology to formulate new-generation stevia, including high-purity non-GMO Reb M and brazzein for its range of Sweetensify flavors. The company’s Ultratia brazzein technology received Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status from the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA) last year.

By Insha Naureen