Using the atmosphere to make dumpling wrappers? Chinese scientists' latest research is quite amazing!

Chinese scientists recently reported for the first time a complete route to synthesize artificial starch from carbon dioxide (CO₂). The results were published in the journal Science.

This new process route makes it possible to transform starch production from traditional agricultural cultivation to industrial manufacturing, and opens up a new technical route for synthesizing complex molecules from CO2.

Starch is the main component of food and an important industrial raw material. It is currently mainly produced by corn and other crops through photosynthesis to fix CO2. This process involves about 60 biochemical reactions and complex physiological regulation. The theoretical energy conversion efficiency of this process is only about 2%.

Sustainable starch supply and strategies for utilizing CO₂ are urgently needed to overcome major challenges facing humanity, such as food crisis and climate change. Designing new pathways beyond plant photosynthesis to convert CO₂ into starch is an important innovative scientific and technological task and will become a major disruptive technology in today's world.

To address this problem, scientists from the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences designed a chemical enzyme system and an artificial starch synthesis metabolic route consisting of only 11 core reactions to convert CO2 into starch.

This route was established via a "building block" strategy, in which the researchers integrated chemical and biocatalytic modules to exploit high energy densities and high CO₂ concentrations in a biotechnologically innovative way.

The researchers systematically optimized this hybrid system using spatial and temporal segregation by addressing issues such as substrate competition, product inhibition, and thermodynamic adaptation.

The artificial pathway can produce starch from CO2 with an efficiency 8.5 times greater than starch biosynthesis in corn, representing a major step forward in outperforming nature. It provides a new scientific basis for creating biological systems with unprecedented capabilities.

"According to current technical parameters, without considering energy input, the annual starch yield of one cubic meter of bioreactor is theoretically equivalent to the annual starch yield of planting one-third of a hectare of corn," said Cai Tao, the first author of the study.

This work will open a window into the industrial production of starch from CO₂.

"If the overall cost of the process can be reduced to a level that is economically comparable to agricultural planting in the future, it is expected to save more than 90 percent of arable land and fresh water resources," said Ma Yanhe, the corresponding author of the study.

In addition, it will help avoid the negative environmental impacts of the use of pesticides and fertilizers, improve human food security, promote a carbon-neutral bioeconomy, and ultimately contribute to the formation of a sustainable biosociety.

Since 2015, TIB has focused on the biosynthesis of artificial starch and the utilization of CO₂, carrying out this demand-oriented scientific and technological research, bringing together various innovative resources, strengthening the integration of "disciplines, tasks, and platforms", and achieving effective coordination of research work.