Pheromones are chemicals secreted that act as hidden means of communication. These allow organisms to send signals, including when they look for love. Find out more at 🚀 engineering interestingengineering
Pheromones are chemicals secreted that act as hidden means of communication. These allow organisms to send signals, including when they look for love., researchers at the Earlham Institute in Norwich have revealed their success in turning tobacco plants into solar-powered factories for moth sex pheromones.
What is of more significance is the ability to manage the production of these molecules by using precision gene engineering techniques so that the plant continues to grow normally.Currently, farmers hang pheromone dispersers that mime signals of female insects to distract males from finding a mate. These dispersers produce molecules by expensive chemical processes that often release toxic byproducts.into pheromone factories that only require sunlight and water. This is made possible by creating genetic modules with the instructions to build new molecules. “Synthetic biology can allow us to engineer plants to make a lot more of something they already produced or we can provide the genetic instructions that allow them to build new biological molecules, such as medicines or these pheromones,” said Dr. Nicola Patron, head of the Synthetic Biology Group at the Earlham Institute and the lead on this new research. Dr. Patron and her team worked with scientists at the Plant Molecular and Cell Biology Institute in Valencia to engineer Nicotiana benthamiana- a species of tobacco previously used to produce Ebola antibodies andCoercing plants to continuously build these molecules has its drawbacks. The team introduced a few molecular switches to the plant’s DNA to regulate production like an on-off switch. “Too much energy is diverted away from normal growth and development,” explained Dr. Patron. “The plants are producing a lot of pheromones but they’re not able to grow very large. Our new research provides a way to regulate gene expression with more subtlety, ” she added.Moth pheromones are often a blend of two or three molecules in specific ratios. In their tests, the team observed that
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Engineered plants produce sex perfume to trick pests and replace pesticidesBy using precision gene engineering techniques, researchers at the Earlham Institute in Norwich have been able to turn tobacco plants into solar-powered factories for moth sex pheromones.
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