Green | November 12, 2008 | 12 comments

Japan scientists say pot plants may one day absorb toxic gas

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YesWeDid
Researchers have genetically engineered plants that can absorb formaldehyde, a pungent chemical compound used as adhesive in building materials and furnishing, one of the researchers said Tuesday.

Formaldehyde is seen as a major factor in what is known as sick-house syndrome -- headaches, dizziness and other health problems triggered by chemical substances in the home.

"We expect the plants to absorb it steadily" along with carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, said Katsura Izui, a professor of molecular plant physiology at Kinki University in western Japan.

The plants have two kinds of genes imported from micro-organisms known as methylotrophs, which use formaldehyde for their growth.

One host plant was tobacco and the other was thale cress, a small plant formally called Arabidopsis, which has a short life span of two months and is widely used as a model plant in biology.

Izui said the amount of formaldehyde absorbed by the plants was small compared with the carbon dioxide they use.

But the study showed that modified Arabidopsis survived four weeks in boxes dense with formaldehyde with the level of toxic gas falling to some one-tenth of the original level.

All wild Arabidopsis died in the same circumstances. Similar results were also obtained with experiments using modified tobacco plants, he said.

Izui said the density drop may have also stemmed from absorption by the agar used as a substitute for soil in the experiment boxes because formaldehyde is highly soluble in water.

"We are now trying to make new devices for more precise observation," he said, adding they were trying to apply the technology in common foliage plants.

The study was conducted jointly with Professor Yasuyoshi Sakai, an expert on micro-organisms at Kyoto University.

[Original article from http://www.physorg.com/news145603651.html]
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12 comments // Japan scientists say pot plants may one day absorb toxic gas

  • artist_al_fine
  • VitaminStolz
    • 0
      VitaminStolz  

    • There should be more data to support such an interesting Title,or something actually with cannabis in the text. All that the researchers tested according to this, was Thale and Tobacco. Nothing juicy about that.

    • 3 years ago
  • simplecj
  • krush_productions
  • covelogibbs
  • hapykap
    • 0
      hapykap  

    • If we are talking about Pot, then,

      This is just another of its 1001 different uses. Absorbing formaldehyde is sure to cause one Hell of a bad headache HI!

      Pot, probably one of the most evolved plant species on the planet; if it could talk we probably couldn't comprehend.

      Live Learn Love Evolve, Create-Greatness and give it away...

    • 3 years ago
  • 02
  • covelogibbs
    • 0
      covelogibbs  
    • Image

    • "Japan scientists say tobacco plants may one day absorb toxic gas,"

      would have been a more appropriate title for this story, since it has nothing, that I could tell, to do with cannabis.

      Apparently the only thing the pot was referring to is the growing container. Redlight from me for misleading the reader with title and picture.

      Ironically, most building supplies containing formaldehyde could probably be replaced with alternatives made from hemp, so actually the title to this article may be more appropriate than I thought, no genetic engineering required.

    • 3 years ago
  • J_Jammer
    • 0
      J_Jammer [removed]  

    • This is like when people state there is a gene for mass murder and people use it to state...but I was made to kill twelve people with an onion.

      EVERYTHING in this world has a purpose that is GOOD and BAD. EVERYTHING.

      It's not about what is and isn't bad but how it is used and that's based on responsibility. With great power comes great responsibility.

      If people really cared about the actual properties that a plant has to heal or help then they would care to fight for it in a better way than gloating every time a new study (which is NEVER shocking) suggesting something good that it can do.

      I'm going to wager a guess that these same people don't like when someone tells them "I told you so" over and over again...especially when you never stated that said person was ever wrong.

      There's so many plants and animals on this planet that we don't even know about that could do a lot of good for us all. They just are waiting to be found.

      Congrats to the scientist for finding another good find. A helpful one.

    • 3 years ago
  • sickinjersey
  • CalgarC
  • Reddi
    • 0
      Reddi  

    • When prohibition ends, the future will look back and wonder sadly why this plant was not used for industrial purposes extensively ...

    • 3 years ago
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