Scientists make lettuce and tobacco produce meat protein
Researchers at Imperial College London have successfully genetically engineered lettuce and tobacco plants to produce myoglobin, a protein responsible for the flavor and color of meat. This technique involves inserting animal genes into plant chloroplasts, offering a potentially more sustainable method for creating plant-based meat alternatives.
Why it matters
This innovation could significantly reduce the environmental impact of livestock farming by providing a plant-based source for the essential proteins that give meat its sensory appeal.
Let us accept it: livestock farming is a heavy burden on the environment. Raising animal feed takes vast amounts of land and huge supplies of freshwater, and it adds to global warming by releasing methane and nitrous oxide. Many consumers also worry about animal welfare. These pressures are helping to fuel the rapid expansion of the global meat-alternative market, now estimated to be worth between €6.7 billion and €8.1 billion a year. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.1%-12.3% during the next 10 years. In such situations, microbial engineering is a common way of producing meat substitutes. This means inserting genes for animal proteins into bacteria or yeast and growing the organisms in bioreactors to produce the desired proteins. According to reports, now scientists have shown another possible route: making animal proteins using plants as factories.
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