Scientists Create Giant Tobacco Plants That Remain Young

CREDIT: Fraunhofer IME View full size image

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME in Munster, Germany have created tobacco plants that grow to over six meters tall with healthy and green leaves. Normal tobacco plants grow for only about four months, then flower and die. The researchers discovered a genetic switch which can prevent the plants from flowering. They modified the expression of the gene and then inserted the gene back into the tobacco plant using a bacterium. The first tobacco plant this experiment was performed on has been growing for eight years.

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