Real fur from the lab: Fendi is working on biotech alternatives

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Many fashion labels have said goodbye to products with real fur. Luxury manufacturers like Gucci and Prada have joined mass brands like H&M and C&A in committing to a Fur-Free Retailers program. Only the fashion label Fendi, which belongs to the luxury group LVMH, continues to adhere to real fur. Now Fendi is additionally looking for alternatives to give fur lovers the real feel. Previous faux fur products often look real and certainly adorn luxury products, but usually do not feel real enough.

For its project, the fashion label is enlisting the help of biotechnology and funding a two-year research project at Imperial College London. Under the direction of bioengineer Tom Ellis, German biochemist Pascal Püllmann is to produce the precursors of fur hair with the help of genetically adapted yeast cells. Like our hair and nails, fur hairs consist of combinations of the protein keratin. Once the DNA construction manual is available, it can be introduced into the yeast cells, which then produce the proteins.

The right keratin recipe for fur

However, mammalian genomes contain 100 to more than 200 keratin genes. Two of these keratin variants each accumulate independently and - in sufficient quantity - result in the great diversity in fur hair, but also in human hair and our nails, for example. In addition, keratins also occur as structural building blocks in skin cells, for example.

Püllmann is a yeast specialist and has already developed many yeast production systems in his doctoral thesis. In this research project, too, he has to modify yeast cells so that they not only produce the desired proteins efficiently, but also discharge them into the surrounding nutrient fluid. From there, the keratins can then be purified. In parallel, he will also search the DNA sequence databases for suitable fur keratin variants and combinations and insert them into the yeast cells.

The project is one of the first of its kind, as it aims to produce a product with two building blocks. Previous natural protein productions focused on polymers such as collagen, which consist of single building blocks (monomers):

It would be easier to extract and sequence the RNA intermediate of keratins from furry animal hair follicles. But Fendi's specification is strict: real animals must not even be touched for the collection of tiny samples. Only existing sequence databases are allowed.

No real animals for removal

"Importantly, the project is not about having yeast cells produce whole hairs of fur. The yeasts are far too small for that compared to the hairs. We are using the cells as biofactories to make fur building blocks," Ellis explains. The two keratin molecules then independently assemble to form a kind of microfiber. Project partners from London's Central Saint Martin School of Art and Design will then investigate how the fibers can be processed into fur and how well it would be accepted by customers.

If the right keratins can be brought together, the fur from the lab should later not only feel like real fur, but also behave in exactly the same way due to its structure. "Real fur repels snow and ice. On artificial fur, on the other hand, it sticks and clumps," says Ellis.

(vsz)