Pollen-free Bio engineered Plants for Allergic People

If you are allergic to airborne substances especially to pollen but love to grow plants in your house, this is good news for you!

In a collaborative project between the Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP) and BIOMIVA S.L. (Spain) modified genes were injected to pelargonium plants which are now one of the most popular garden and house plants around the world. One gene was bioengineered to selectively destroy pollen-producing anthers consequently producing pollen-free plants. Another gene, encoding an enzyme Isopentenyl phosphotransferase (ipt) was bioengineered to increase the amount of cytokinin, a plant hormone thus preventing leaf falling or aging. 

The modified genes were carried into the plant’s genome using bacteria carriers which are able to transfer DNA between itself and the plants’.  Individual plants were then grown from the cells.

The bioengineered plants were observed to have smaller leaves and flowers with more vibrant colors compare to their natural counterparts. They are also expected to be able to survive longer because of the extra cytokinin.

One of the researchers from IBMCP, Dr Luis Cañas explained, "The ipt enzyme catalyzes the rate-limiting step for cytokinin biosynthesis in plants and consequently extra ipt, provided transgenically, produces more cytokinin and prevents the plant cells from aging. In addition, the use of an anther-specific promoter from pea driving the expression of a bacterial gene (ribonuclease), prevents the development of male progenitor cells into anthers and pollen, resulting in pollen-free flowers."