The Plan to Put Pig Genes in Soy Beans for Tastier Fake Meat (www.wired.com)

submitted 10 months ago by CoreOffset@lemm.ee to c/vegan@hexbear.net

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm naturally quite cautious about things like this, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] Wheaties@hexbear.net 4 points 10 months ago

it's an interesting idea, and in exploring it we would certainly learn new things

In June 2023, Moolec revealed that it had inserted genes from pigs into soy plants in order to make soybeans that expressed porcine proteins. The experiments were carried out at the company’s greenhouses in Wisconsin. In some of the soybeans, over a quarter of the soluble proteins were identified as pig. It’s not quite the bleeding soybean that he first imagined, but Palidini was still impressed with just how much pig protein his soybeans seemed to produce. The beans have a pinky hue and a meaty taste, he says, though the company is still awaiting a full analysis of their nutritional qualities. Next year, Paladini hopes to take the soybeans to outdoor field trials in Wisconsin.

but this is not the way to do it

[-] Aryuproudomenowdaddy@hexbear.net 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I'm just assuming you're concerned about cross-pollination. From my understanding as long as adequate buffer zones between similar crops are followed there's very little to worry about. Like stories about farmers getting sued for having their fields pollinated with GM variants were bogus and the farmer everyone usually sites was found to just be replanting GM seed.

[-] Maoo@hexbear.net 3 points 10 months ago

Adequate buffer zones won't be 100% implemented, though. Nobody's going to make them do that worldwide.

Would be better to introduce genetic incompatibilities so that GMOs were infertile with non-GMOs.

[-] Aryuproudomenowdaddy@hexbear.net 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Would be better to introduce genetic incompatibilities so that GMOs were infertile with non-GMOs.

I guess if that was your goal they would probably have to insert a novel gene that wouldn't be present in say, the over 10,000 different varieties of conventionally bred tomatoes and then engineer the plant to produce sterile seeds, but that seems like a much more concerning trait to let out into the wild than beans expressing umami flavor. Terminator seed technology has been around for a while but as far as I know there have been no commercial applications because it worries a lot of different groups.

[-] Maoo@hexbear.net 2 points 10 months ago

You can make plants unable to interbreed efficiently by inducing and exploiting polyploidy.

[-] Wheaties@hexbear.net 3 points 10 months ago

There's still the risk of people spreading it. Sortta like espionage vineyard grafts of heirloom grapes or something. This kinda thing worries me, in this case I don't think there's such thing as too much precaution.

[-] Aryuproudomenowdaddy@hexbear.net 3 points 10 months ago

I'm not really sure what you mean by spreading it, like some bad actors are going to porkify the soy industry through guerilla farming? The challenge of gathering and preserving that much seed aside, for commercial farmers who grow GM crops it's very finicky to get those beneficial traits to be expressed through each subsequent generation through traditional breeding.

this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2024

17 points (100.0% liked)

vegan

6782 readers

18 users here now

:vegan-liberation:

Welcome to /c/vegan and congratulations on your first steps toward overcoming liberalism and ascending to true leftist moral superiority.

Rules

No plant-based diet bullshit or promotion of plant-based capitalism. Veganism isn't about you, it's about historical materialist anti-speciesism, anti-racist animalization, and animal liberation. Ethical vegans only.
No omni apologists or carnists. Babystepping is for libs, and we're not here to pat you on the back. Good faith questions and debate about how to fight for animal liberation are allowed.
No advocating violence to any species for any reason. If you think this is negotiable GTFO. This includes but is not limited to animal testing, slaughter, and mass euthanasia. Anything that promotes speciesism or the commodification of animals will be removed.
Use Content Warnings and NSFW tags for triggering content. Especially if a comrade requests it.
Questions about diet belong in c/food. It's also a great place to share recipes.
In all sections of the site, you must follow the Hexbear.net Code of Conduct.