Tryptone Substitute (Animal Free, Atholate(TM))

Atholate(TM) is a proprietary blend of plant protein hydrolysates designed to replace traditional casein hydrolysate in the preparation of bacteriological media. Atholate(TM) is APF (Animal-Product- Free) Certified(TM) guaranteed to have no animal derivatives while still maintaining quality performance. Atholate(TM) matches the nutritional and performance characteristics of standard casein hydrolysates and can be used for the cultivation of a wide range of microbial species. Atholate(TM) is the key ingredient in Athena's new Animal-Product-Free LB Broths, which perform equivalent to their animal-derived counterparts. Athena's APF LB Broths are available in Miller, Lennox and Luria formulations and are superb media for the cultivation of Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Pseudomonas, Bacillus and other eubacteria species. In recent years, the use of animal-derived raw materials has become a concern as a source of harmful contaminants to manufacturers of biopharmaceutical products.5 Initially, this concern was confined to the manufacturing end of the industry. As the regulatory environment has evolved in regard to the use of animalderived materials, greater restrictions are being placed at earlier stages of product development. The consequence is a pressing need for media formulations which are not made from animal sources. To address this, we have developed a non-animal protein hydrolysate to replace the casein hydrolysate. An obvious choice for the casein replacement would be plant-derived hydrolysates, however, no one plant protein source has the same amino acid composition as casein. Therefore, the direct replacement of casein hydrolysate with a plant protein hydrolysate would not yield a medium with the same nutritional composition. To overcome this limitation, we have designed a blended plant-based protein hydrolysate that matches casein hydrolysate in composition and in performance. Results and Discussion: Using an in silico model, several candidate blends were devised. The algorithm applied first searched among 30 different plant protein hydrolysates for those with amino acid compositions that most closely matched casein