‘Lab–grown’ is a phrase that puts many people off.
But what if you could enjoy meat that had been grown inside plants?
Scientists from Imperial College London have come up with a way to cultivate muscle protein within lettuce and tobacco plants.
‘Plants can be engineered to produce the animal protein myoglobin (Mb) in their chloroplasts, the energy factories for photosynthesis,’ explained researcher Dr Alexia Groff.
‘This could provide a more sustainable way to produce an important ingredient for plant–based meat products.’
The breakthrough comes at a key time, as Ed Miliband has warned that families will have to cut back on meat and dairy.
The Energy Secretary has signed up to a legally binding goal to cut the UK’s carbon emissions by 87 per cent by 2040.
To meet the goal, households will need to eat 25 per cent less meat – and a fifth less dairy.
Scientists from Imperial College London have come up with a way to cultivate muscle protein within lettuce and tobacco (pictured) plants
Currently, one of the most common methods for producing fake meat is microbial engineering.
This is a technique in which animal proteins are inserted into the genome of bacteria or yeast for mass production.
However, in their new study, the researchers set out to understand whether we could do the same thing, but in plants rather than bacteria or yeast.
The team focused on myoglobin – the iron–rich protein that gives meat its umami flavour and red colour.
Firstly, they cloned the genes for pig and cattle myoglobin, before using a ‘gene gun’ to physically shoot copies into the chloroplasts of tobacco and lettuce seedlings.
Dr Groff explained: ‘We used tobacco because it is the best model plant for developing this technology, and lettuce because it is an edible crop that could eventually be used for food ingredient production.’
The plants were then grown to adulthood and flowered – with their offspring then inheriting the myoglobin genes.
Measurements confirmed that the yield of myoglobin was approximately 800mg/kg of tobacco, and 810mg/kg of lettuce.
Measurements confirmed that the yield of myoglobin was approximately 800mg/kg of tobacco, and 810mg/kg of lettuce (pictured)
For comparison, real meat contains around 8.1–11.2mg per gram.
‘Despite this, plant cultivation is far more resource efficient than livestock production,’ the researchers said.
‘Plant–derived Mb [myoglobin] could achieve protein yields per hectare that rival – or even potentially exceed – those of animal agriculture, while also benefiting from substantially lower water use and greenhouse gas emissions.’
Having shown that it’s possible to grow meat inside plants, the team now plans to develop an industrial purification method.
Dr Groff added: ‘The myoglobin could be extracted from leaves and purified using industrial protein purification methods.
‘Since it is identical to animal myoglobin, it could then be added as an ingredient to plant–based meat products to improve their color, flavor and nutritional value.’
Prof Derek Stewart, National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC) Co-Director, James Hutton Institute, called the study an ‘exciting step forward’.
He said: ‘The paper is an exciting step forward proving the concept that plants can be used to make myoglobin, a key meat protein, in a stable and scalable way.
‘It is especially encouraging that the protein could be recovered in a form that was properly folded and bound to heme, which matters for meat-like colour and flavour.’
HOW IS ‘TEST TUBE MEAT’ GROWN IN A LABORATORY?
‘Test tube meat’ is a term used to describe meat products grown in a laboratory
‘Test tube meat’ is a term used to describe meat products grown in a laboratory.
They are made by harvesting stem cells from the muscle tissue of living livestock.
The cells, which have the ability to regenerate, are then cultured in a nutrient soup of sugars and minerals.
These cells are then left to develop inside bioreactor tanks into skeletal muscle that can be harvested in just a few weeks.
Lab-grown beef was first created by Dutch scientists in 2013. A test tube hamburger was served at a restaurant in London to two food critics.
In March 2017, San Francisco firm Memphis Meats successfully grew poultry meat from stem cells for the first time.
In March 2017, San Francisco firm Memphis Meats successfully grew poultry meat from stem cells for the first time. The company also makes lab-grown meatballs (pictured)
