2026-10-09T21:46:05Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34029555 2026-09-30T04:42:05Z category_539 portal_316 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Data Sheet 1_Methylomonas methanica and Methylosinus sp. co-cultivated with methylotrophs under saline conditions for microbial protein production from biogas as alternatives to natural-gas- based production using Methylococcus capsulatus.docx Frederiek-Maarten Kerckhof (444349) Norah Benmeridja (25141347) Korneel Rabaey (471586) Nico Boon (169479) Jo De Vrieze (9531533) Myrsini Sakarika (11353404) Chemical Engineering Design biogas co-culture methane methanotrophs microbial protein single-cell protein Introduction<p>Microbial protein (MP) is a promising alternative protein source that can be produced using methane as a substrate derived from undervalued resources. Methylococcus capsulatus is one of the most prominent microbial species employed for industrial production, while other potentially suitable methanotrophs remain underexplored.</p>Methods<p>Here, we selected the alternative methanotrophs Methylosinus sp. and Methylomonas methanica with high growth rates and potential for halotolerance and compared them to M. capsulatus.</p>Results and Discussion<p>Methylosinus sp. and Methylomonas methanica achieved up to 1.87-fold higher maximum specific growth rates and 2.52-fold higher biomass concentrations, compared to M. capsulatus. When the pH was allowed to acidify below optimum for growth, the protein content of M. methanica (45% ± 5% CDW) was 1.55 times compared to pH-controlled conditions. Cultivation at an increased salt content (20 g NaCl L⁻¹) boosted the protein content of M. methanica to 81% ± 7% CDW, showing its applicability for MP production using saline water. Co-culturing M. methanica with the methylotrophic yeast Komagataella phaffii led to a 1.27-fold higher essential amino acid content, which indicates an improvement in protein quality, while the use of synthetic biogas increased the protein yields up to 1.5-fold, compared to purified methane. In summary, M. methanica co-cultured with selected methylotrophs has the potential to enable more sustainable MP production under saline conditions using biogas, as an alternative to natural gas-based production with M. capsulatus. These strategic upstream choices could bring us closer to a future-proof protein production system.</p> 2026-09-30T04:42:05Z Dataset Dataset 10.3389/fceng.2026.1912929.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Data_Sheet_1_Methylomonas_methanica_and_Methylosinus_sp_co-cultivated_with_methylotrophs_under_saline_conditions_for_microbial_protein_production_from_biogas_as_alternatives_to_natural-gas-_based_production_using_Methylococcus_capsulatus_do/34029555 CC BY 4.0