Systematic engineering of cell wall for improving single cell protein (SCP) production

As an emerging alternative protein, Single cell protein (SCP) has gained considerable traction in livestock feed applications. Furthermore, it presents substantial potential for replacing traditional dietary proteins for human consumption. Yet current research remains focused on strain screening with limited advances in cellular metabolic engineering. Due to the complexity of protein synthesis and processing, enhancing the SCP production efficiency in microbial chassis remains a major challenge. Here, we present a metabolic engineering approach to systematic engineer the cell wall of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for improving SCP production. In this study, we constructed a strain by gene modifications of genes related to cell wall biogenesis and associated signaling pathways, achieving a 32.6 % increase in cellular protein content. Additionally, comparative transcriptomics analysis uncovered the regulatory mechanism whereby remodeling of carbon and nitrogen metabolism governs cellular protein biosynthesis, providing new insight for the rational design of microbial cell factories with enhanced protein content.