Process improvement to enable economic production of prebiotics and demonstration of efficacy in feeding trials (PIPP)

草是生产益生元的现成原料，这个市场价值14亿美元。通过水解酶转化为短链分子（SCM）的草汁果聚糖显示出比商业比较物更强的益生元活性（使用人工肠道系统进行评估）。市场占有率受到生产成本和动物系统示范的阻碍。在这个项目中，水解酶将被克隆到一个细菌中。这将大大提高过程经济性，并避免昂贵的酶的主要成本。所生产的SCMs将在小鼠试验中用作饲料补充剂。这些分子的益生元活性将通过使用下一代测序检查小鼠微生物组来评估。此外，经济可行性、市场机会、监管问题和供应链物流也将被确定，以确保这项技术在市场上的可能采用。

Grass is a readily available feedstock for the production of prebiotics, a market worth $1.4 Billion. Grass juice fructans, converted to short chain molecules (SCM) by hydrolases, show prebiotic activity greater than commercial comparators (assessed using an artificial gut system). Market take-up is hampered by production cost and demonstration in animal systems. In this project the hydrolases will be cloned into a bacterium. This will greatly improve process economics and avoid the major cost of expensive enzymes. The SCMs produced will be used as feed supplements in mice trials. The prebiotic activity of these molecules will be assessed by examination of the mice microbiome using next generation sequencing. Additionally, economic viability, market opportunities, regulatory issues and supply chain logistics will also be determined ensuring a likely take-up of this technology in the market place.