Integrated Omics Approach: Revealing the Mechanism of Auxenochlorella pyrenoidosa Protein Extract Replacing Fetal Bovine Serum for Fish Muscle Cell Culture

Abstract

The process of producing cell-cultured meat involves utilizing a significant amount of culture medium, including fetal bovine serum (FBS), which represents a considerable portion of production expense while also raising environmental and safety concerns. This study demonstrated that supplementation with Auxenochlorella pyrenoidosa protein extract (APE) under low-serum conditions substantially increased Carassius auratus muscle (CAM) cell proliferation and heightened the expression of Myf5 compared to the absence of APE. An integrated intracellular metabolomics and proteomics analysis revealed a total of 13 and 67 differentially expressed metabolites and proteins, respectively, after supplementation with APE in the medium containing 5%FBS, modulating specific metabolism and signaling pathways, which explained the application of APE for passage cell culture under lowserum conditions. Further analysis revealed that the bioactive factors in the APE were protein components. Moreover, CAM cells cultured in reconstructed serum-free media containing APE, L-ascorbic acid, insulin, transferrin, selenium, and ethanolamine exhibited significantly accelerated growth in a scale-up culture. These findings suggest a promising alternative to FBS for fish muscle cell culture that can help reduce production costs and environmental impact in the production of cultured meat.