China’s lab fungus produces low cost, meat-like protein to replace chicken farms

Chinese scientists have genetically modified a fungus commonly used in the production of meat substitutes to make it an even more environmentally friendly source of protein than chicken – one of the farmed animals that has the least impact on the environment.

The team used CRISPR-based gene editing to modify Fusarium venenatum, improving its production efficiency and reducing its environmental impact without introducing foreign DNA, according to a paper published in the peer-reviewed Trends in Biotechnology.

The mycoprotein from the fungus has a texture and taste similar to meat but needs less land, produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions and has a lower risk of water pollution than chicken and other animal proteins.

Alternatives to meat have been growing in popularity, with cell-cultured proteins – also known as lab-grown meat – attracting interest. However, there have been concerns that large-scale production may have a larger environmental impact than beef.

“It can be concluded that effective mycoprotein synthesis provides environmental advantages over animal protein and cultured meat,” the team said in the paper, which was published on November 19.

“There is a general demand for higher quality and more sustainable edible protein,” Liu Xiao, corresponding author and a researcher at Jiangnan University, told the Chinese Academy of Sciences-run news site China Science Daily on November 20.

South China Morning Post