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Perhaps someone smart here can answer me this: Is there any chance whatsoever that lab-grown meat tech could somehow result in products which are more likely to

Perhaps someone smart here can answer me this: Is there any chance whatsoever that lab-grown meat tech could somehow result in products which are more likely to cause prion diseases than regular meat? I ask this as a vegan who would absolutely eat lab-grown meat if given the option, except for this one concern. Perhaps lab-grown fish, poultry, and eggs (if those are a thing) would be safer than other types of lab-grown meat?

rcxdude 3y ago
I doubt it, in fact it will likely be safer. One important thing about prions is there's basically only one protein that does it*, and it's only really produced in the brain. So lab-grown meat with no brain involved is less likely to have prions. You can even genetically engineer organisms to not have the protein, though it does seem to cause learning difficulties (hasn't stopped an attempt with farmed cows). Lab-grown meat could much more easily include that as well. *There's another brain-degeneration disease thought to be caused by a prion behaviour in a slightly different protein, but it's not confirmed and it doesn't change the main point. You may also ask why there are so many different prion diseases, and they've basically due to slight differences in this protein between species as well as different mutations which can cause it to occur spontaneously (like Fatal Familial Insomnia).
- pcthrowaway 3y ago
  > as well as different mutations which can cause it to occur spontaneously Isn't it possible (or perhaps even more likely) that the tech used for culturing meat could result in more mutations though? Like, how are the people working on this controlling for unmutated proteins?
  - rcxdude 3y ago
    Even if so, it's mutations in a protein that isn't made in muscle tissue. You'd also need mutations which cause it to be made, which would likely involve it becoming not-muscle.

rcxdude 3y ago

I doubt it, in fact it will likely be safer. One important thing about prions is there's basically only one protein that does it*, and it's only really produced in the brain. So lab-grown meat with no brain involved is less likely to have prions. You can even genetically engineer organisms to not have the protein, though it does seem to cause learning difficulties (hasn't stopped an attempt with farmed cows). Lab-grown meat could much more easily include that as well. *There's another brain-degeneration disease thought to be caused by a prion behaviour in a slightly different protein, but it's not confirmed and it doesn't change the main point. You may also ask why there are so many different prion diseases, and they've basically due to slight differences in this protein between species as well as different mutations which can cause it to occur spontaneously (like Fatal Familial Insomnia).

pcthrowaway 3y ago
> as well as different mutations which can cause it to occur spontaneously Isn't it possible (or perhaps even more likely) that the tech used for culturing meat could result in more mutations though? Like, how are the people working on this controlling for unmutated proteins?
- rcxdude 3y ago
  Even if so, it's mutations in a protein that isn't made in muscle tissue. You'd also need mutations which cause it to be made, which would likely involve it becoming not-muscle.