This morning, via a press release, Professor June Medford and her team in the Department of Biology at Colorado State University spoke about her project that uses genetically modified plants to change color when exposed to pollutants or trace amounts of explosives. These plants use a computer-designed protein that changes the plants' natural signaling process to turn white when specific substances are detected.
“The idea to make detector plants comes directly from nature,” said Medford. “Plants can’t run or hide from threats, so they’ve developed sophisticated systems to detect and respond to their environment. We’ve ‘taught’ plants how to detect things we’re interested in and respond in a way anyone can see, to tell us there is something nasty around.”
But is this still nature? Most people's first image when thinking of the idea of nature is plants, but when we start genetically modifying plants to suit our needs (as we've done for many years already,) can they still be considered natural? Are these color-changing sentinels "what ought to be?"
While the science of these plants and how they work may be interesting, the ethical implications are even more profound. Will we breed different plants to detect different pollutants in the home? How is this any different than training digs or pigs to sniff drugs? What else does this change in the plants' DNA? Perhaps plants like this will lead to more of a gardenscape inside airports or offices, perhaps there will even be plants inside airplanes.
Medford and her team were recently given an $8 million grant by the government for defense research, in order to develop the plants further. The current response times are a few hours, but Medford wants to get the response time down to minutes.
Image credit goes to Colorado State University News
