Gene gun makes lettuce and tobacco produce myoglobin for meat-like colour and flavour

Scientists engineer lettuce and tobacco to produce myoglobin for meat alternatives 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. According to a news report published by Phys Org, researchers and collaborators at Imperial College London have genetically engineered lettuce and tobacco plants to make myoglobin, an important protein found in animal muscle. Their findings, ...