From fertilised oocyte to cultivated meat – harnessing bovine embryonic stem cells in the cultivated meat industry

Eldar Zehorai; Ayelet Maor-Shoshani; Natali Molotski; Anastasya Dorojkin; Nitzan Marelly; Tami Dvash; Neta Lavon

doi:10.1071/RD23169

REVIEW (Open Access)

From fertilised oocyte to cultivated meat – harnessing bovine embryonic stem cells in the cultivated meat industry

Eldar Zehorai ^A ^* , Ayelet Maor-Shoshani ^A , Natali Molotski ^A , Anastasya Dorojkin ^A , Nitzan Marelly ^A , Tami Dvash ^A and Neta Lavon ^A ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Aleph Farms Ltd, Rehovot 7670401, Israel.

^* Correspondence to: eldar.zehorai@aleph-farms.com, neta.lavon@aleph-farms.com

Reproduction, Fertility and Development 36(2) 124-132 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD23169

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the IETS. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Global demand for animal protein is on the rise, but many practices common in conventional production are no longer scalable due to environmental impact, public health concerns, and fragility of food systems. For these reasons and more, a pressing need has arisen for sustainable, nutritious, and animal welfare–conscious sources of protein, spurring research dedicated to the production of cultivated meat. Meat mainly consists of muscle, fat, and connective tissue, all of which can be sourced and differentiated from pluripotent stem cells to resemble their nutritional values in muscle tissue. In this paper, we outline the approach that we took to derive bovine embryonic stem cell lines (bESCs) and to characterise them using FACS (fluorescence-activated cell sorting), real-time PCR and immunofluorescence staining. We show their cell growth profile and genetic stability and demonstrate their induced differentiation to mesoderm committed cells. In addition, we discuss our strategy for preparation of master and working cell banks, by which we can expand and grow cells in suspension in quantities suitable for mass production. Consequently, we demonstrate the potential benefits of harnessing bESCs in the production of cultivated meat.

Keywords: bovine, cellular agriculture, cultivated meat, cultured meat, differentiation, embryonic stem cells, lab grown meat, pluripotency.

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