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Plant-animal hybrid cells make solar-powered tissues, organs or meat
Scientists in Japan have created hybrid plant-animal cells, essentially making animal cells that can gain energy from sunlight like plants. The breakthrough could have major benefits for growing organs and tissues for transplant, or lab-grown meat.
In a new study led by the University of Tokyo, the team inserted chloroplasts into animal cells, and found that they continued to perform photosynthetic functions for at least two days. This compound performs a key role in chloroplasts but shouldn’t normally be present in animal cells, so its presence is a good indicator that the method worked. “As far as we know, this is the first reported detection of photosynthetic electron transport in chloroplasts implanted in animal cells,” said Professor Sachihiro Matsunaga, corresponding author of the study.
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