Microbiota-Derived Postbiotics Enhance the Proliferative Effects of Growth Factors on Satellite Cells in Cultivated Meat Applications

To satisfy the increasing demand for the protein supply of the growing global population, cultivated meat is being garnered significant attention that can meet consumer needs with a reduced impact on the planet nowadays. Due to being a nascent industry, there are still many hurdles to overcome such as cost reduction. This study aims to investigate the effect of microbiota-derived postbiotics to reduce the need for growth factors (GFs) or fetal bovine serum (FBS), as the main cost drivers of this technology. For this purpose, postbiotic Biftek-1 (B-1) was extracted from Enterococcus hirae, an isolate from cow milk microbiota, and bovine satellite cells (bSCs) were isolated from muscle biopsies, then identified by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence assay. The effects of different doses of GFs and B-1 on cell viability and myogenic profile of bSCs were evaluated. According to the results, low concentrations of GFs (40 ng/mL IGF1 and 20 ng/mL FGF2) combined with our growth medium supplement B-1 significantly increased bSCs proliferation, similar to FBS, but did not lead to any significant changes on their myogenic profiles. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first attempt to use the postbiotics on cultivated meat technology.