Eternally young giants

Tobacco plants have a very short life cycle. They stop growing at the age of about 3-4 months, after which they bloom and die. Their size is also limited and is 1.5-2 meters in height.

German scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, working under the guidance of Professor Dirk Prufer, have discovered a genetic switch that is a "source of eternal youth" for tobacco plants. The authors demonstrated that changing the expression of a certain gene prevents tobacco blooming and its early entry into the phase of physiological aging.

The age of the first of the plants modified in this way is already almost 8 years old, and it still continues to grow. Despite the regular pruning of branches, its height reaches 6.5 meters, and the thickness of the stem is 10 centimeters. Apparently, this is not the limit and the size of the plant is limited only by the height of the greenhouse.

Currently, researchers are trying to apply the developed approach to the potato plant, which will significantly increase the starch content in tubers. Preventing the flowering of certain types of agricultural plants means not only an increase in biomass, but the impossibility of pollen and seed formation, which excludes the spread of such plants in the ecosystem.

In the future, the authors plan to reproduce the results obtained using chemical mutagenesis, that is, changes in the DNA sequence under the action of chemical compounds. The plants obtained using this classical approach will not be "genetically modified", but the result of the application of a standard selection method.

Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on Fraunhofer IME materials:
Giant tobacco plants that stay young forever.

10.01.2013