New method makes starch from CO₂ faster than plants can

Abstract

Feeding the world uses enormous amounts of land, water, fertilizers, pesticides, and fuel . In a step toward more sustainable food production, researchers have designed a method to make starches from carbon dioxide more efficiently than plants do ( Science 2021, DOI: 10.1126/science.abh4049 ). The new technique, which relies on chemical catalysts and a curated combination of natural and engineered enzymes, converts CO 2 to starch 8.5 times as efficiently as corn plants can. “This suggests that it is possible we can produce starch in a factory rather than on a farm, which should be a way to ensure human food security and reduce carbon dioxide emissions,” says Yanhe Ma, a microbiologist at the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology. The synthetic starch could find use in industrial applications and as an ingredient in animal or human food. Starches, a form of carbohydrates, are a major source of food calories ,