A Key Meat Protein Has Been Grown in Lettuce For The First Time
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This breakthrough in food technology demonstrates how plants can generate animal protein myoglobin within their chloroplasts. The researchers cloned the genes for pig and cattle myoglobin, then used a "gene gun" to introduce these genes into the chloroplasts of tobacco and lettuce seedlings. The chloroplasts, which have a bacterial ancestry and high protein production capacity, successfully integrated the genes and passed them on to subsequent generations.
The plants were then grown to maturity, flowering and producing seeds that inherited the transgene. In comparison to nuclear genome integration, chloroplast expression yielded significantly higher amounts of myoglobin - approximately 800-810 mg per kilogram dry weight, which is at least three times higher than when the transgene is inserted into the nuclear genome.
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