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this area for many years. With the feed additive CreAMINO®,
a team from the business unit, together with its partner AlzChem
Trostberg GmbH, has developed another product that will
further improve the efficiency of poultry nutrition.
The development was inspired by new EU regulations in
the wake of the BSE crisis that prohibit the feeding of farm
animals with byproducts from meat production. By nature,
however, chicken are omnivores, and their bodies rely on animal­derived
substances for optimal development. The problem
with purely vegetarian feed is in supplying creatine—a substance
that plays an important role in the energy meta bolism
not only of animals but of humans, and is not present in a pure ly
vegetarian diet.
Creatine—suitable for animal nutrition?
Creatine and its activated form creatine phosphate is required
primarily for muscle contraction, but is also necessary for brain
and nerve functions. Creatine phosphate supplies the phosphoryl
group necessary to convert the adenosine diphosphate (ADP)
generated in the contraction into energy­rich adenosine triphosphate
(ATP). Creatine phosphate acts as an energy reservoir,
because the cells regulate the concentration of the ATP within
narrow limits: ATP depots are sufficient for only a few seconds
to satisfy a high short term energy demand. With creatine phosphate,
however, this reservoir can be quickly restored
Ambitious athletes know creatine for its positive impact on
performance and energy recovery. In 2003, AlzChem, headquartered
in Trostberg (Germany), a leading producer of creatine
for human use asked the animal nutritionists at Evonik whether
creatine might also be suitable for animal feed. At the same time
customers from the feed industry complained about drops in
feed efficiency caused by the ban of meat processing byproducts
and asked for help. It was a logical consequence to conduct feeding
studies in order to address the „creatine question.“ And the
results were quite encouraging: it turned out that creatine can
The creatine/creatine phosphate system
Creatine phosphate (PCr) supplies the phosphoryl group required to
convert adenosine diphosphate (ADP) into energy-rich adenosine
triphosphate (ATP), thus serving as an energy reservoir. The creatine
(Cr) generated in the separation of the phosphoryl group is converted
back into creatine phosphate by the mitochondrial creatine kinase
elements34 Issue 1|2011
Mitochondrium Cytosol
ATP
ADP
CK
ATP
ADP
improve the efficiency of animal feed utilization by several percentage
points. On the other hand, creatine proved to be too
expensive for use as a feed additive for poultry.
Logical steps to reduce costs included simplifying production
of the creatine by, for example, reducing the number of purification
steps. But subsequent tests with the less pure product no
longer showed the effectiveness observed in prior tests. Also,
the powdered creatine was insufficiently stable at the relatively
high temperatures required for pelleting compound feed. The
project had hit a critical phase, and a new approach needed to
be identified.
Creatine precursor GAA:
same performance, better economics
So the project team returned to the scientific literature and carefully
studied the animal physiology and metabolism to see if they
could find alternatives to creatine. Their work uncovered guanidino
acetic acid (GAA), a precursor in the biosynthesis of creatine,
and a natural substance produced by the body itself.
Creatine can be ingested with food or generated by the body.
Biosynthesis begins with the two amino acids glycine and L­arginine
as starting substances. In mammals, primarily in the kidneys,
the guanidino group of the L­arginine is split off by the
enzyme amidino transferase, and transferred to glycine. This is
what forms the guanidino acetic acid. In this process, the L­arginine
is converted into L­ornithine. In the next step, the GAA
is converted—in mammals, predominantly in the liver—into creatine
in the presence of a transmethylase, with S­Adenosyl methionine
serving as the methyl group donor.
In animal studies, GAA shows the same advantages as creatine.
It is converted extremely efficiently. In Evonik‘s own pilot
plant for compound feed production, the project team was able
to demonstrate that GAA is also more heat­resistant than creatine,
and is therefore well­suited for the processing conditions
in industrial compound feed production. AlzChem succeeded in
Mitochondrial creatine kinase (sMtCK, uMtCK)
Cytosolic creatine kinase (MM-CK, BB-CK, MB-CK)
Cytosolic ATPases (transporter, pumps, enzymes)
Oxidative phosphorylation Glycolysis
Cytosolic ATP/ADP ratio Cytosolic ATP consumption
Cr
PCr
CK
CK
ATPase
CK CK
ATP
ADP
CK
ATP
ATPase
ADP