Bt Tobacco Cleans Up Liver Toxin From Ponds
April 23, 2010| |
Tobacco is a non-food crop that has been known to endanger human health. However, tobacco can offer good benefits after all. Pascal M.W. Drake, Ph.D and colleagues in St. George's University of London, developed a new strain of tobacco plant which produces antibodies to toxic pond scum, particularly microcystin-LR. Microcystin-LR is a liver toxin produced by cyanobacteria and is notorious for contaminating water for drinking, swimming and fishing.
The antibodies for microcystin are produced in the leaves of the transgenic tobacco plant and then secreted through the roots to the hypotonic growth medium. The next phase of the study is to develop aquatic plant hybrids to clean up a wider area of water. The new tobacco strain is just one of the transgenic plants that scientists plan to develop in order to remediate various environmental toxins.
Visit http://www.sgul.ac.uk/media/latest-news/genetically-engineered-tobacco-plant-cleans-up-environmental-toxin for more information.
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