Scientists pave way for plant-grown meat
After years of exploring alternative ways to produce animal proteins and reduce reliance on livestock farming, scientists on Thursday said they had paved the way for producing plant-grown meat by engineering tobacco and lettuce to make myoglobin, a key muscle protein that gives meat its flavour and colour. A new study shows tobacco and lettuce can produce myoglobin, bringing plant-grown meat closer while reducing emissions and water use. Published in Frontiers in Plant Science, the research marks a step beyond creating meat in laboratories, popularly known as lab-grown meat. As a proof of principle, scientists from Imperial College London, Kyomei Ltd, the University of California, and Nanchang University in China have engineered tobacco and lettuce plants to carry the gene for myoglobin (Mb)—a protein abundant in animal muscle fibres—in the genome of their chloroplasts, the structures responsible for photosynthesis, using a “gene gun”. This makes it possible to mass-produce myoglobin in crops, giving plant-based meat alternatives a more meat-like flavour and colour. Myoglobin is a key component of the heart and skeletal muscles of vertebrates. …
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