Microcarriers are widely used to culture adherent mammalian cells in the pharmaceutical industry where the product is usually a high value protein. However, the extension of this technology into cultured meat (CM) production where adherent muscle precursor cells are the product necessitates a microcarrier that does more than just support a high cell density. Ideally, the microcarrier used in CM production would contain no animal derived components, have a low cost of production, and would be food-safe, edible, and contribute to the sensory and organoleptic properties of the final meat product. Gelatin, a denatured form of collagen commonly found in many food products as a gelling agent is a promising biomaterial that fits this profile. However, it is currently produced at large-scale from the skins and bones of pigs and cows and is quite heterogeneous in terms of fragment length and extent of hydroxylation.
In this study we present a process for producing a non-animal derived chicken gelatin by transiently expressing chicken collagen fragments in the plant Nicotiana benthamiana. By producing gelatin recombinantly in a plant host, the shortcomings of commercially available gelatin are addressed and the recombinantly produced plant gelatin is comprised of a single fragment length. This allows for systematic screening of various fragment lengths to tune properties such as melting temperature and stiffness with the added benefit of reduced batch-to-batch variability. The unique ability to quickly scale up whole plant production at a relatively low capital and operating cost will also be advantageous in the CM field where price parity with conventionally farmed meat has yet to be achieved.
