https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/05/03/genetically-engineered-grass-degrades-rdx-in-soil/

“Genetically engineered grass cleanses soil of toxic pollutants left by military explosives, new research shows”

buffy said:

https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/05/03/genetically-engineered-grass-degrades-rdx-in-soil/

“Genetically engineered grass cleanses soil of toxic pollutants left by military explosives, new research shows”

nice

“After three years, the excess water coming off the plots with the engineered grass contained lower levels of RDX compared to the other two types of plots. In addition, the engineered plants had little or no RDX in their tissues compared to the wild-type plants, suggesting that these grasses were taking up and metabolizing this chemical.”

Please excuse my ignorance but does that mean they use it for food?

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

“After three years, the excess water coming off the plots with the engineered grass contained lower levels of RDX compared to the other two types of plots. In addition, the engineered plants had little or no RDX in their tissues compared to the wild-type plants, suggesting that these grasses were taking up and metabolizing this chemical.”

Please excuse my ignorance but does that mean they use it for food?

The grass is processing the RDX. It may not be as food, but it is chemically changing it.

Ok thanks.

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Ok thanks.

No worries.

buffy said:

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

“After three years, the excess water coming off the plots with the engineered grass contained lower levels of RDX compared to the other two types of plots. In addition, the engineered plants had little or no RDX in their tissues compared to the wild-type plants, suggesting that these grasses were taking up and metabolizing this chemical.”

Please excuse my ignorance but does that mean they use it for food?

The grass is processing the RDX. It may not be as food, but it is chemically changing it.

That’s rather startling. Where did they get the RDX processing genes from, I wonder. Perhaps I’d better read the article.

mollwollfumble said:

buffy said:

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

“After three years, the excess water coming off the plots with the engineered grass contained lower levels of RDX compared to the other two types of plots. In addition, the engineered plants had little or no RDX in their tissues compared to the wild-type plants, suggesting that these grasses were taking up and metabolizing this chemical.”

Please excuse my ignorance but does that mean they use it for food?

The grass is processing the RDX. It may not be as food, but it is chemically changing it.

That’s rather startling. Where did they get the RDX processing genes from, I wonder. Perhaps I’d better read the article.

It makes sense that some plants can use the nitrates from explosives as sources of nitrogen.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-021-00909-4

> engineered to express two genes, xplA and xplB, encoding RDX-degrading enzymes from the soil bacterium Rhodococcus rhodochrous 11Y

That answers my question.

Rhodococcus is a genus of aerobic, nonmotile Gram-positive Actinobacteria closely related to other Mycobacterium. Most are benign, and have been found to thrive in a broad range of environments, including soil, water, and eukaryotic cells. Some species have large genomes.

Strains of Rhodococcus are important owing to their ability to catabolize a wide range of compounds and produce bioactive steroids, acrylamide, and acrylic acid, and their involvement in fossil fuel biodesulfurization. This genetic and catabolic diversity is not only due to the large bacterial chromosome, but also to the presence of three large linear plasmids.