Cleaning up military waste with GM grass
Genetically modified grass removes toxic military waste, RDX.
Switchgrass. Credit: Jacky Parker Photography/Getty Images.
A genetically modified common grass can remove toxic military waste from soil, according to a paper published in
Nature Biotechnology.
A team of researchers, led by Neil Bruce and Liz Rylott from the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) at the University of York, UK, demonstrated that a genetically modified switchgrass (
Panicum virgatum) could detoxify RDX, a military explosive leftover from live-fire training, munitions dumps and minefields.
Key research points:
Genetically modified switchgrass with two bacterial genes thrived around US military sites.