Thursday, April 16, 2015

Making Trees Grow Bigger and Faster

The University of Manchester recently released the results of their study on gene manipulations in an Arabidopsis plant. Lead by Professor Simon Turner, the team successfully discovered a way to make the small flowering plant grow faster and bigger. Two genes (called PXY and CLE) which control the growth were manipulated to be over expressed which lead the plant in the study to grow twice as fast and taller. The altered organism also had more leaves which are responsible for oxygen production.

Although this has not yet been tested in nature or larger trees, it is a great discovery that can pave the path for future studies to implement this type of technique in the wild. This could lead to increase of bio fuels, renewable resources and producing more oxygen while also taking CO2 out of the atmosphere! While many people may be against genetically modified plants, I believe this would be beneficial to the planet to replenish tree populations that have been destroyed while also counteracting our carbon dioxide pollution.

Ways trees benefit the world

1 comment:

  1. This kind of research has a huge potential for industries and the common person. It could definitely be used as one solution to deforestation.

    ReplyDelete