Circular bioeconomy in action: Upscaling cutlassfish waste for eco-friendly recombinant protein production

The fish processing industry generates a significant amount of waste, and the recycling of this waste is an issue of global concern. We sought to utilize the heads of cutlassfish (Trichiurus lepturus), which are typically discarded during processing, to produce peptone, which is an important source of amino acids for microbial growth and recombinant protein production. Cutlassfish head muscle (CHM) were isolated, and the optimal protease and reaction conditions for peptone production were determined. The resulting peptone contained 12.22 % total nitrogen and 3.19 % amino nitrogen, with an average molecular weight of 609 Da, indicating efficient hydrolysis of CHM. Growth assays using Escherichia coli have shown that cutlassfish head peptone (CP) supports similar or superior growth compared to other commercial peptones. In addition, when recombinant chitosanase from Bacillus subtilis and human superoxide dismutase were produced in E. coli, CP gave the highest expression levels among six commercial peptones tested. In addition, the expression levels of chitosanase and superoxide dismutase were 20 % and 32 % higher, respectively, in CP medium compared to the commonly used Luria-Bertani (LB) medium. This study demonstrates the potential of using cuttlassfish waste in the production of microbial media, thereby adding significant value to fish waste. The results contribute to sustainable waste management practices and open avenues for innovative uses of fish processing by-products in biotechnological applications.