From raw to rare sugar: low-cal sweetener under development

Synthetic biologists and bioprocess engineers at The University of Queensland are creating rare sugars in ‘microbial cell factories’ at the $70 million UQ Biosustainability Hub, which was officially launched today (17 June 2026).

Led by Dr Axayacatl Gonzalez and his team at UQ’s Biosustainability Hub, the project is harnessing natural processes to produce a variety of rare sugars — which are considered to be a ‘healthy’ low-calorie alternative to raw sugar.

According to Gonzalez, these rare sugars offer the same sweetness, texture and baking properties as raw sugar, but the cost of sourcing and processing rare sugars has prevented wider usage in food and beverage products so they are aiming to scale up the process.

“These rare sugars occur in some fruits, and they are increasingly coveted as alternative food and beverage sweeteners by the hospitality and commercial food industries,” Gonzalez said.

“The health benefits are clear, and the sugar industry clearly identifies this as an opportunity to diversify their offering, but large-scale production is currently limited.

“The good news is we are able to harness natural processes in our lab to produce a variety of rare sugar molecules, using fermentation technologies which provide a sustainable alternative for the manufacturing of these molecules directly from raw sugar.”

Gonzalez’s project involves an industry partnership with MSF Sugars and begins with bacteria commonly found in Queensland cane fields.

Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) R&D scientist Dr Nathan Zhong engineered the bacteria’s metabolism to create microbial cell factories that can produce rare sugars from a cane syrup feedstock.

Image credit: The University of Queensland

“Once we have the right bacterial strain, the equation is pretty simple: raw sugar goes in, and rare sugars come out,” Zhong said.

“So far we have a library of bacterial strains capable of producing rare sugars when grown in UQ’s custom-built bioreactors.”

MSF Sugar’s General Manager Businesses Development, Jia Poontanasombat, said the work at the UQ Biosustainability Hub could ultimately help Australian sugar producers remain competitive internationally.

Video: Dr Axayacatl Gonzalez and Dr Nathan Zhong discuss the project

Top image credit: The University of Queensland