<
https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/27/neoplants-bioengineers-houseplants-to-use-them-as-air-purifiers/>
"Meet Neoplants, a French startup that is designing genetically modified
houseplants so that they can absorb air pollutants. The startup’s first plant,
the Neo P1, works hand in hand with the company’s own microbiome located in the
soil near the plant roots.
Neoplants targets specifically a group of indoor air pollutants that can’t be
efficiently captured by traditional air purifiers. Most air purifiers focus on
particulate matters. But it’s harder to tackle volatile organic compounds
(VOCs).
That’s why Neoplants focuses on two categories of VOCs — formaldehyde (HCHO),
and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX). These pollutants come
from outdoor pollution, but also from materials that are used in construction,
such as paints, coatings and chemicals. Cooking and smoking can also foster
indoor pollution.
“Our plant can capture the four main components that cause air pollution at
home. But it can also turn it into something useful as it can become plant
matter,” co-founder and CEO Lionel Mora told me.
Plants usually metabolize CO2. But the Neo P1 has been modified at the DNA
level so that it produces new enzymes that can also metabolize air pollutants.
For instance, it turns formaldehyde into fructose, and it turns BTEX compounds
into an amino acid that the plant can use to produce proteins later.
While genetically modified organisms aren’t new, the company says that applying
these methods on houseplants is new. “We had to sequence and annotate the
genetic structure of this plant,” co-founder and CTO Patrick Torbey told me."
Via
Future Crunch issue 190:
https://futurecrunch.com/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
