Scientists are now using DNA from this extinct animal to make plant-based meat

Scientists are using the DNA from the extinct woolly mammoth to make plant-based burgers taste more meaty - believe it or not.

Belgian food technology company Paleo uses precision fermentation technology to develop different animal proteins called myoglobins, which can be added to meat substitutes to mimic the flavour of meat.

This is exactly what they've done with the animal, tha died out around 10,000 years ago, using short DNA sequences taken from a 1.2 million-year-old fossil at the Center for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm, Sweden.

"Old DNA is fragmented, so it's like assembling a puzzle," Hermes Sanctorum, the founder and CEO of Paleo, toldInsider.

"The myoglobin gene from the Asian and African elephants was used to align (compare) these small DNA fragments with each other, and to reconstruct a full sequence."

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Comparing the flavour to cow protein, he added: "When the mammoth myoglobin is added instead, it tastes even more intense - more meaty. And chemical analysis confirmed that.

"More aromatic compounds associated with grilled meat are present than in the case of cow myoglobin."

Science is truly crazy.

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