Thursday, 5 November 2015

"Magic" native Australian tobacco plant could be key to space-based food production

QUT researchers Dr Julia Bally and Professor Peter Waterhouse with the

Scientists at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia have discovered a gene in an ancient Australian native tobacco plant that they say is the key to growing crops in space. The plant, Nicotiana benthamiana, has long been used in labs around the world to test viruses and vaccines due to the fact it has no immune system. Surprisingly, this trait has also led to the plant being extremely resilient, which is where space-based food production comes in.

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