Industrial enzymes and food in the same plant

2000/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ekologia

Traditionally, farmers have cultivated different plants for different purposes, sometimes to obtain fruit and igalias, others to obtain raw materials for the industry. However, Genetic Engineering can offer farmers the possibility of achieving these two goals in a single crop, which means a huge increase in profits.

The Northwest National laboratory of the United States Department of Energy has created a potato plant with an industrial enzyme in stems and leaves. In this way, besides selling the traditional normal potato, you can sell the part that until now was not used for anything, and not at economic price. Thanks to isolated genes from various bacteria, scientists have managed to make the enzyme celulase appear in the stem and leaves of the potato plant. This enzyme is used for the processing of food and the production of ethanol, which is obtained by fermentation

Although it is possible, the new method is much more economical. If the production of a first gram of cellulase cost between 50 and 250 dollars, the potato plant will only serve one penny.