Cell-free chemoenzymatic starch synthesis from carbon dioxide

[Meredith Poor + 895]

https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.abh4049

Starch + fatty acids (vegetable oils) + phenols (flavorings and odorants) + sugars (glucose, sucrose, etc.) = plant based food (cereals, fruits, and starchy vegetables). Fatty acids and phenols have been manufactured for years. Adding starch and sugar to that only leaves the mineralization elements (zinc, iron, calcium, etc.) which might be all that difficult to mix in with these molecules.

 

I Tasted The (Delicious) Meat Grown in These Vats (Bloomberg Quicktake):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSS9Em4a_qs

'Lab grown meat' = protein.

 

The 'last' step in all of this is lab grown cellulose, which would make paper, 'cotton' clothing, and perhaps wood (which also requires lignin, a glue-like material). So far, there's no evidence that I can find that suggests this can be done on a fully synthetic pathway, although cellulose is produced by bacteria and algae.

We're getting to the point where 'farming' (and fishing) as we generally understand it is on its way out.

Agriculture is an enormous energy consumer. Reduce this to factory food production, and the human footprint on the planet shrinks geometrically.