China | New tech may reduce reliance on soybean imports

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China has in recent years adopted a mix of methods to reduce its reliance on imported soybeans, a crucial raw material for making animal feed, such as through crop rotation and the deployment of higher-yield varieties. However, a group of scientists in Tianjin have taken a different approach. They have set their attention on protein biosynthesis using methanol as a raw material, where progress has stalled for decades due to the hefty costs. A breakthrough could potentially help wean China off its reliance on proteins derived from soybeans. The researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, led by Wu Xin, recently announced a commercially viable approach to biosynthesize protein that can be used in making animal feed. Their findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts on Nov 17. "Research on synthesizing cellular protein from methanol began in the 1980s," Wu said in the paper. "Yet, due ………………………………