Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have made insulin in lettuce leaves. Plant-made insulin could one day become a medicine for people with diabetes.
In trials on mice, the plant insulin normalized blood sugar within 15 minutes, comparable to the body’s own insulin release. The results look promising, but human trials are a long way off. The scientists first plan a large study on dogs with diabetes.
To get lettuce leaves to produce the proteins needed for insulin, the researchers used genetic engineering. The genome changes caused no side effects in the plants or in the animals in the experiment.
Lettuce could also become a raw material for milk. The Israeli startup Pigmentum has developed a technology that turns lettuce leaves into milk that tastes the same as cow’s milk.
