Genetically Modified Pothos Ivy Houseplant Detoxifies Air Of Pollutants
No matter where or when you are in the world, there are carcinogenic pollutants in the air. The natural degradation of plant material and other chemical reactions across the planet produce these compounds. This is also true for humans and the things we make and the homes we live in...
For the most part, the concentrations of these are at such a low level that they aren’t a concern, but there are certain situations that can cause a buildup of them. Thus, to reduce even minor potential risks of these to those that would be most vulnerable like children and the elderly, an easy method to collect and break down these compounds from air within a contained room would be useful. All of the current physical methods, including adsorption and photocatalytic oxidation have their downsides in complexity of application, the production of other problem components, or just require a large amount of energy in an unrealistic way.
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Researchers at the University of Washington decided to try an unorthodox, but rapidly becoming more commonplace, approach. There is a gene in mammals called cytochrome P450 2E1 or just CYP2e1 for short. It controls protein production for a protein that can oxidize a large number of VOCs and breaks them down so they do not damage the cell or the overall body. This gene has already been tested in trees through transgenic transfer and been shown to improve their VOC degradation. Now, they wanted to do the same thing for common houseplants and plants that would be more commonly found in urban areas and regions with higher VOC concentrations.
The houseplant they selected for the experiment was pothos ivy, due to its strong growth, ability to live in low light conditions, and because a genetic transformation method had already been conducted and published in the past for the species, saving a significant amount of time and effort on their part. Furthermore, since pothos ivy doesn’t flower in any capacity due to the ancestral loss of a necessary gene, there are no biosafety concerns of the transgene being spread through pollen production, however remote that risk would otherwise be. An enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) was added to the transgene cassette as a selectable marker to show that the insertion had been successfully done.
The result was a highly active detoxification plant cultivar they named pothos ivy VD3. They tested it against two of the most common VOCs and the effect was incredibly strong when compared to wild type versions. Benzene breakdown increased 4.7-fold and chloroform was even more surprising as the wild type plants had no prior capability to break it down. VD3, meanwhile, reduced a concentration of 800 milligrams per cubic meter to 0 in the span of 6 days, an incredibly rapid degradation as well.
...http://bioscriptionblog.com/2018/12/23/pothos-ivy-detoxifies-air/?fbclid=IwAR0OiAe1fhybxf1ukXKpVn7__EXTYOycZi0ggPK9fwAYmSdqBTRyNRYuuq0
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