Hebrew University scientists have successfully engineered a plant to produce beta-casein, a milk protein that helps give cheese its melting properties, which they believe puts them on the way to beating international competition to produce plants that can literally be milked at an industrial scale.

“Milk is not produced sustainably,” said Prof. Oded Shoseyov of the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, who led the research.

“Some 15 percent of global warming gases are emitted as methane by livestock,” he said. “Today, with genetic modification, you can take the genes coded for milk proteins and transfer them to another organism that’s more efficient, saving a lot in terms of resource input and emissions.”

Shoseyov said the global dairy industry was worth more than $1 trillion last year and was expected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2035, thanks to population growth and rising awareness of the nutritional value of milk protein.

The researchers first engineered the laboratory plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and then a........

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