Japan's famed wagyu beef, a delicacy that can cost more than $200 a pound at some top restaurants, could become much more affordable in the form of a lab-grown replica.

Japanese scientists say they have succeeded in recreating wagyu, renowned for its fat marbling, in a laboratory to produce something that could eventually look and taste like the real steak.

Wagyu beef comes from a breed of black cattle, most famously cultivated in the Kobe area of western Japan.