Scientists at the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have supercharged their artificial starch synthesis method, achieving a more than 10-fold increase in yield since their 2021 breakthrough. Led by Professor Cai Tao, the advance moves the world closer to industrial starch production directly from carbon dioxide, bypassing the immense water and land demands of traditional corn agriculture.
What if the key to feeding the future and fighting climate change wasn’t in a field, but in a factory? Chinese researchers are turning this sci-fi vision into reality by mastering the art of cooking up starch from thin air. In a major leap reported by the CAS-run China Science Daily, the team that first synthesized starch from carbon dioxide in 2021 has dramatically turbocharged the process, boosting productivity tenfold and taking a decisive step toward cost-effective, industrial-scale production.
Starch is a vital global commodity, used in everything from food and pharmaceuticals to textiles and adhesives. Today, it comes almost entirely from crops like corn, a process that guzzles water, requires vast tracts of arable land, and depends on fertilizers. The TIB team’s alternative method is elegantly subversive: it mimics photosynthesis but in a controlled, hyper-efficient system. Using a chemical catalyst, carbon dioxide is first converted into methanol. A cascade of more than 10 specially designed enzymes then reassembles these simple molecules into complex starch, identical to its natural counterpart.
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The progress since the initial 2021 announcement, published in Science, has been staggering. Back then, the lab method was already 8.5 times faster than natural starch synthesis in corn. Now, yields have skyrocketed another 10 times higher. “It’s difficult to go from zero to one, it’s difficult to reduce costs, and it’s even more difficult to achieve industrial application in the end,” Professor Cai Tao told China Science Daily. “Nevertheless, we still have to rise to the challenge.”
The path to commercialization hinges on cutting costs, specifically the cost of the enzymes that power the reaction. The team has focused on a particularly stubborn key enzyme that once made up half of the material in the reaction system. “Currently, the activity of this enzyme has been significantly improved compared to 2021,” Cai stated. This improvement means less enzyme is needed, slashing costs. Furthermore, the researchers are using artificial intelligence to screen for more stable and efficient enzyme mutants and developing methods to make them reusable—all critical for an economically viable factory.
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The implications are profound. The team calculates that starch production in a 1-cubic-meter bioreactor could theoretically match the annual yield from one-third of a hectare of cornfields. This presents a sustainable alternative that doesn’t compete for precious farmland. Moreover, in a May 2023 paper in Science Bulletin, the team revealed their system can achieve 3.5 times higher energy efficiency and synthesis rates 23 times faster than natural plant systems.
The ambition doesn’t stop at starch. The same foundational technology has been adapted to produce white sugar from methanol, potentially circumventing the need for sugar cane and beet farms altogether. Driven by this potential, CAS has launched a major initiative to explore and engineer carbon fixation pathways. As TIB founding director Ma Yanhe put it, “Industrialisation was our initial ideal and our ultimate goal. The initial climb was so difficult, how could we give up halfway?” This work isn’t just about making starch; it’s about reimagining the very foundation of how we produce the building blocks of our civilization.
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