The Science Museum in Amsterdam recently showed a special exhibit – a dish of an extinct animal. To do this, scientists created artificial flesh using woolly mammoth and elephant DNA.
Australian company Vow, which develops artificial meat technology, has created an analogue of mammoth meat using the genetic material of this extinct species. It is reported by The Guardian.
On March 28, Vow showed the meatball at the Nemo Museum in Amsterdam. The goal of the project, the company said, is to demonstrate the potential of cage-raised meat without killing animals, and to show the link between large-scale animal husbandry and its impact on wildlife destruction and climate change.
The Associated Press writes that to prepare the meat, the company used known data on the mammoth genome, filled in the missing parts of the genome with DNA from its closest living relative, the African elephant, and inserted the resulting DNA into a sheep cell.
Thus, a culture of cells with a bizarre genome was formed. Then they were grown in a bioreactor until there were enough of them to download meatballs.
AP does not provide additional details: for example, an unknown percentage of mammoth genes in the resulting bizarre genome is unclear and the mechanism of artificial DNA synthesis (completely artificial synthesis of complete animal genomes is not yet possible).
It was ridiculously easy and fast. We did it in a couple of weeks, said Professor Ernst Wolvetang of the Australian Institute of Bioengineering at Queensled University, who took part in the study.
He added that so far no one has tried the created meat, including its creators.
We haven’t seen this protein for thousands of years. Thus, we have no idea how our immune system will react when we eat it. But if we did it again, it would certainly be in a way that would make it more acceptable to regulators, the professor added.
AP notes that the mammoth meatball is the only experience and there are no plans to launch it into industrial production.
The woolly mammoth was usually a symbol of loss. We know that he died because of climate change. And so we wanted to see if we could create something that would be a symbol of a more exciting future that would be better not only for us, but also for the planet,” said Tim Noaksmith, co-founder of Vow.
The idea of the project is to show what potential the technology of growing meat from cells has.
Traditional animal husbandry is one of the factors of climate change on Earth, the company says, and for a new type of meat it is not necessary to kill animals.
Vow works with cages of rare and exotic species such as alpacas, bison, kangaroos or peacocks. Experimenting with them, she tries to make the latest types of meat.
How does this technology work?
Animals have so-called stem cells that form various tissues, such as nerves or skin. Scientists can take these cells and multiply them in a petri dish, a laboratory vessel.
From one tiny muscle cell, you can grow tens of millions of others. Together they form muscle fibers. Make a lot of these fibers – and you get “meat”.
This particular meatball is made from a mixture of mammoth myoglobin, the muscle protein that gives meat its flavor, and elephant tissue.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.