タフツ大学で作られた新しい細胞により、培養食肉生産コストは大幅に下がる可能性がある(Cultivated Meat Production Costs Could Fall Significantly with New Cells Created at Tufts)

2024-01-27

2024-01-26 タフツ大学

◆タフツ大学セルラー農業センターの研究者は、細胞農業技術の進展により、生物反応器で培養された細胞からの肉生産が食品業界において実現性を高めている。特に、研究者は牛の筋肉細胞を改変して自己成長因子を生成させ、これにより製造コストを大幅に削減できることを示した。
◆成長因子は従来培地に添加されていたが、この研究では細胞が自己生成するため、製品のコストを大幅に低減できる可能性がある。これにより、細胞農業が消費者に手頃な価格で提供できる未来の食品生産方法となりうる。

<関連情報>

人工オートクリンシグナル伝達が培養肉生産に必要な筋肉細胞FGF2を除去する Engineered autocrine signaling eliminates muscle cell FGF2 requirements for cultured meat production

Andrew J. Stout,Xiaoli Zhang,Sophia M. Letcher, …,Kristin M. Chai,Maya Kaul,David L. Kaplan
Cell Reports Sustainability Published:January 26, 2024
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crsus.2023.100009

Highlights

•Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) raises the cost of cultivated meat production
•Cell engineering can overcome growth factor requirements in culture media
•FGF-2 and Ras^G12V overexpression eliminate FGF2 requirements for cow muscle cells
•This approach dramatically reduces cultivated meat production costs

Science for society

Cultivated meat is an emerging technology that aims to produce meat through cell culture rather than conventional animal agriculture. By decoupling meat from animals, cultivated meat is projected to dramatically reduce the environmental impact of meat while simultaneously improving animal welfare and human health. To date, however, cultivated meat production is hindered by high costs, which are driven by the cell culture media. In particular, recombinant growth-promoting factors such as fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) contribute a majority of the cost of these media. Here, we engineer bovine muscle stem cells to endogenously activate the growth-promoting signaling cascades that are typically triggered by exogenous FGF2, thereby eliminating the need for this costly media component. This approach offers a step toward engineering cultivated meat cells for expansion in recombinant protein-free media, an approach that would dramatically lower the cost of production.

Summary

Cultivated meat (also known as cultured meat) is a promising technology that faces substantial cost barriers, which are currently driven by the price of media components. Particularly, growth factors such as fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) drive the cost of serum-free media for relevant cells, including muscle satellite cells. Here, we engineered immortalized bovine satellite cells (iBSCs) for inducible expression of FGF2 and/or mutant Ras^G12V to overcome media growth factor requirements through autocrine signaling. Engineered cells were able to proliferate over multiple passages in FGF2-free medium, thereby eliminating the need for this costly component. Additionally, cells maintained their myogenicity, albeit with reduced myotube formation. Ultimately, this offers a proof of principle for lower-cost cultured meat production through cell line engineering.