I covered the basics in my homesteader’s take on PDRN. This is the follow-up on where the active comes from, and what to look for in a vegan formula.

Where Most PDRN Comes From

PDRN is fragmented DNA, and the commercial source is salmon — specifically Oncorhynchus mykiss (rainbow trout) and Oncorhynchus keta (chum salmon). When PDRN was first developed in Italy decades ago for injectable wound-healing applications, those were the source organisms, and most topical PDRN serums on the K-beauty market today still trace back to that supply chain.

A 2021 review in Marine Drugs surveyed 70 published PDRN studies and found the active was extracted from rainbow trout in 40 and chum salmon in 29 — sturgeon accounted for the rest. The authors note salmon sperm “is rather difficult to obtain, as these organisms only spawn during the breeding season,” which is why PDRN is expensive at the supplier level (Kim & Kang, Marine Drugs (2021)).

So when you see PDRN on a K-beauty label — Medicube‘s pink ampoule, Beauty of Joseon, Anua, and a long list of others — you’re almost always looking at salmon-derived PDRN. None of those brands are doing anything wrong. The ones that feature “salmon DNA” on the front are at least transparent. The ones that bury the source aren’t lying; they’re not advertising what most buyers don’t ask about.

To be clear: salmon-derived PDRN works. The clinical track record goes back decades, and topical formulations have a real efficacy paper trail. The case I’m making isn’t against salmon PDRN — it’s about why a meaningful slice of buyers want a non-fish alternative.

Why That’s a Problem for a Lot of Us

Four buyer groups for whom salmon-derived PDRN is a hard pass — or at minimum, a reason to look for an alternative.

Vegans and ethical-sourcing buyers. If skincare is vegan as a values choice, fragmented salmon DNA isn’t a gray area — it’s an animal-derived ingredient from fish reproductive tissue. I get reader emails weekly asking whether the PDRN serum they’re considering is vegan, and the honest answer is “almost certainly not unless the brand explicitly says so.”

Kosher and halal observers. The rules around fish aren’t identical to the rules around mammalian animals — but for buyers keeping strict observance, an unfamiliar fish-derived ingredient is at minimum a question worth asking. A clearly vegan formula sidesteps the question entirely.

Fish-allergic buyers. Topical fish-derived ingredients aren’t a high-risk allergen exposure for most people — the proteins are largely removed during PDRN purification. But for someone with a documented fish allergy, the cautious move is to avoid the ingredient. Allergists generally recommend fish-allergic patients avoid topical fish-derived skincare as a precaution.

Ingredient-literate readers who just want to know. The bucket I fall into. I’m not vegan. I eat fish. But I read ingredient lists the way some people read sports scores, and “fragmented salmon sperm DNA” is the kind of phrase that, once you learn it, you can’t un-learn. When a vegan version exists at comparable performance, I want to know about it.

For everyone outside those four groups, salmon PDRN is fine. The moat on vegan PDRN is sourcing, not effectiveness — but for buyers who care, that moat is everything.

Is Vegan PDRN Even Possible?

Short answer: yes, and the science has developed fast over the last few years. The path to non-animal PDRN went through three routes.

Plant tissue culture is the most established. Researchers have developed PDRN extraction using adventitious root tissue from Panax ginseng. A 2023 study in Molecules showed PDRN isolated from Panax ginseng roots, processed through tissue culture and microfluidization, promoted keratinocyte and fibroblast proliferation comparably to salmon-derived PDRN, and improved skin barrier function in cell cultures and a 3D skin model. The authors positioned this “PhytoPDRN” as an alternative that “can promote animal welfare and environmental sustainability” (Lee et al., Molecules (2023)). Other groups have demonstrated PDRN extraction from Paeonia lactiflora (peony) and Gynostemma pentaphyllum callus cultures, with comparable mechanisms — binding the same A2A adenosine receptor.

Microbial fermentation is the second route. A 2025 paper in Current Issues in Molecular Biology reported the first PDRN extracted from Lactobacillus rhamnosus — a probiotic bacterium — and found this microbial PDRN outperformed salmon PDRN on antioxidant activity, wound healing, and cell migration. The microbial version’s DNA fragments are smaller (under 100 base pairs vs. 200–800 for salmon), which the authors hypothesize improves bioavailability (Kim et al., Current Issues in Molecular Biology (2025)).

The third route is synthesized fragmented DNA from yeast and other microbial cultures, fermented out and purified to PDRN-grade. This is the most industrially scalable long-term, and where I expect supply to consolidate.

For buyers: vegan PDRN is no longer hypothetical. But the supply chain is still small, cost is higher than salmon, and most K-beauty brands haven’t switched. Finding a vegan PDRN serum is hard not because it doesn’t exist, but because the industry hasn’t caught up.

The One Brand I Found Doing It Right

I built Leaf & Bird because the off-the-shelf options for actives I cared about — PDRN included — weren’t doing what I wanted on sourcing. Our Vegan PDRN Brightening Serum is the product I formulated because I couldn’t find a version I trusted enough to use myself.

Vegan PDRN Brightening Serum

$26.99 $32.00

Non-salmon, plant-fermented PDRN as the lead active. For brightening, post-acne marks, and gentle daily regeneration. Fragrance-free, fish-free, vegan-formulated.

Check it out at Leaf & Bird →

What’s in it: vegan PDRN as the lead active, niacinamide for tone, panthenol for barrier comfort, low-irritant humectant base. No fragrance, no essential oils, no fish-derived ingredients. The PDRN is plant-fermented, sourced through a supplier that publishes non-animal origin documentation.

Honest disclosure: it contains phenoxyethanol as a preservative — the workhorse of water-based skincare, safe under 1%, allowed in EU “natural” certifications. I’d rather you hear that from me than discover it on the back of the bottle. If “phenoxyethanol-free” is a hard line, this isn’t the right product.

What I’ve noticed: tone evens out over weeks. An old sun-damage spot I’ve had since my first pregnancy faded noticeably over about eight weeks of nightly use. Layers under my tallow cream without pilling, doesn’t sting, barely smells.

I’m not going to claim this is the only vegan PDRN serum on the market — new brands launch regularly. It’s a rare formulation, supply chain is small, and this is the one I built and use.

What to Look For on the Label

If you’re shopping for vegan PDRN outside of Leaf & Bird, here’s the framework I’d use to read a label confidently.

Look for the explicit non-salmon callout. Brands that source non-animal PDRN almost always say so. Phrases to look for: “non-salmon-derived,” “plant-fermented PDRN,” “vegan PDRN,” “PhytoPDRN,” “microbial-derived PDRN,” or specific sources like “ginseng-derived” or “peony-derived.” Silence on the source is, in practice, salmon-derived — that’s the default unless stated otherwise.

Read the INCI list. The INCI list on the back of the bottle is the legal source of truth. PDRN may appear as polydeoxyribonucleotide, sodium DNA, or sometimes salmon roe extract (which is salmon-derived by definition). Plant-sourced versions may be listed as Panax ginseng root extract or by source species. Marketing might say “vegan-friendly” generically; the INCI list is where the actual source lives.

Look for vegan certifications. Vegan Society trademark, Leaping Bunny, Certified Vegan — these mean the brand documented non-animal sourcing to a third party. Not perfect (some small brands skip certification on cost), but a strong positive signal.

Ask the brand directly. The highest-leverage move is emailing or DM-ing the brand and asking, “What’s the source organism for the PDRN in this product?” If they answer clearly, good sign. If they hedge or take days to respond, treat that as the answer.

If you’re cross-shopping during pregnancy, the sourcing question matters less than the active-during-pregnancy question. I cover that in PDRN vs. retinol during pregnancy — both have question marks pregnant women should know about.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is all PDRN made from salmon?

The vast majority of PDRN on the skincare market is salmon-derived — specifically from rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) or chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) sperm DNA. Vegan PDRN exists, derived from plant tissue culture (Panax ginseng, peony, Gynostemma) or microbial fermentation (Lactobacillus rhamnosus), but it’s still rare on the open market.

Is vegan PDRN as effective as salmon-derived PDRN?

Per published research, yes. Panax ginseng PDRN binds the same A2A adenosine receptor and produces comparable skin cell proliferation and barrier improvements. Lactobacillus-derived PDRN has outperformed salmon PDRN on some lab measures. The bottleneck isn’t efficacy — it’s supply chain maturity.

Why do most K-beauty brands still use salmon PDRN?

Salmon-derived PDRN has decades of clinical data, an established supply chain, and lower per-unit cost. Non-animal sources are validated in the literature but still scaling industrially.

Can I use vegan PDRN if I have a fish allergy?

A vegan, plant-fermented or microbial-derived PDRN serum contains no fish-derived ingredients, so it sidesteps the fish-allergen question. Always check the full ingredient list and patch-test, and discuss with your allergist if you have a serious allergy history.

How do I tell if a PDRN serum is salmon-derived from the back of the bottle?

Look at the INCI list. If you see “polydeoxyribonucleotide” or “sodium DNA” without a plant or microbial source called out, assume salmon-derived — that’s the industry default. Brands using non-animal PDRN almost always advertise the source explicitly.

More from the PDRN cluster: my homesteader’s take on PDRN, and PDRN vs. retinol during pregnancy. For more ingredient breakdowns, see the Health & Wellness archive.