Engineered nanoparticles could help store excess carbon dioxide in the ocean
Nov 2022, phys.org
Hochella and his colleagues examined the scientific evidence for seeding the oceans with iron-rich engineered fertilizer particles near ocean plankton, encouraging phytoplankton to act as a carbon sink.Researchers' analysis of 123 published studies showed that numerous non-toxic metal-oxygen materials could safely enhance plankton growth.
via Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: Peyman Babakhani et al, Potential use of engineered nanoparticles in ocean fertilization for large-scale atmospheric carbon dioxide removal, Nature Nanotechnology (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-022-01226-w
Cocaine synthesized in a tobacco plant
Nov 2022, phys.org
Cocaine that winds up in its leaves is not produced by elements in the plant converting 4-(1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinyl)-3-oxobutanoic acid to hyoscyamine, as has been thought. They found that it is instead produced by the two enzymes, EnMT4 and EnCYP81AN15.To prove their discovery, the group genetically engineered a tobacco plant to produce the two enzymes in its leaves, which resulted in the production of small amounts of cocaineThe team also notes that the amount of cocaine produced by the tobacco plant was far too low for use on an industrial scale; thus, their work will continue. Not mentioned in the paper is the possibility of synthesizing the two enzymes produced by both the coca and engineered tobacco plant as a more direct way to synthesize cocaine.
via Chinese Academy of Sciences: Yong-Jiang Wang et al, Discovery and Engineering of the Cocaine Biosynthetic Pathway, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2022). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c09091
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