‘고기맛 상추’ 나올까…엽록체가 동물성 단백질 만들었다

A new technique has been developed that allows scientists to produce a key protein found in red meat called myoglobin in plants like spinach. This could potentially provide a sustainable alternative to animal farming. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh, Biosustainable Protein Centre, and Gene Art created a genetically modified tobacco and lettuce plant, which successfully produced myoglobin in their chloroplasts.

Myoglobin is a protein rich in iron, which gives meat its characteristic red color and flavor. The study, published in the journal Frontier in Plant Science, marks the first time that myoglobin has been successfully produced in plant chloroplasts and has been stable across generations. The chloroplasts were chosen as the production site because they have a higher production efficiency compared to the cell nucleus.

The research team also compared the production efficiency of tobacco and lettuce plants, finding that the latter produced myoglobin at a rate of around 800mg and 810mg per kg, respectively, which is at least three times higher than the production rate using nuclear genetic material. However, the amount of iron in the myoglobin produced in lettuce is still relatively low (around 35%).

Despite this, the researchers believe that plant-based production could eventually match the protein output of traditional animal farming while significantly reducing water usage and greenhouse gas emissions.