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posted by janrinok on Saturday November 30 2019, @01:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the quick-before-someone-patents-them dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

EI is part of the global effort to sequence the DNA all of the known species of animals, plants and fungi on earth, known as the Earth BioGenome Project. Contributing to the UK arm Darwin Tree of Life Project, one aspect from EI is unearthing useful new medicines that are produced in plants by decoding their genomic data profile.

Plants produce a vast array of bioactive compounds to guard themselves against pests and diseases as well as to attract species like insects and microbes that help them grow. Some of these chemicals can help us too.

For example, a precursor of the well-known painkiller aspirin was originally found in willow bark, paclitaxel is a chemotherapy drug found in certain yew trees, and digoxin, found in foxgloves, is used to treat heart conditions. Foxgloves and several species of willow trees are still common throughout the UK, but many other plant species are threatened by the rapid decline in hay meadows, which have largely been replaced by intensive grasslands since the second world war.

A team from EI and John Innes Centre led by Synthetic Biology Group Leader Nicola Patron aims to explore the chemical diversity of UK plants, identifying the genes that plants use to produce molecules that could provide benefits in health and industry.

[...] Director of EI Prof Neil Hall, added: "This work is a great example of how sequencing genomes of wild species could lead to entirely new ways of harnessing nature for the public good. My hope is that in the next ten years we will have sequenced the vast majority of plant genomes, unlocking a treasure trove of pathways that make compounds which can be used in medicine and biotech."


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @01:48AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @01:48AM (#926227)

    Get off my Doorstep!

    Burn every Jew Tree!

    Don't make me get my Nazi Luger!

    Vote Republican. SoylentPolitic uber alles.

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @02:05AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @02:05AM (#926233)

    Destroy the marijuana genome forever. Give me free alcohol.

    Vote Libertarian! Take money from the young and give to the Old!

    SoylentNews is the best online community because the average age of readers is 60.

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @02:26AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @02:26AM (#926239)

    Soylent give me herbal boner pills. I can keep it up all night.

    #SoylentHotties

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @04:32AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @04:32AM (#926283)

    I grow my own medicinal plants, and 'beneficial compounds' tested at 28% THC, and 2.3% CBD for my last crop of Nirvana's Chrystal (White Widow X Northern Lights).
    While I applaud the research, I'll just keep on growing my own...old school, but with modern knowledge of genetics.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @04:45AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @04:45AM (#926286)

      It would be nice to get yeasts to produce many of these drugs. Not necessarily THC.

      If the genomes are downloadable, eventually anyone will be able to make them.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @04:23PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @04:23PM (#926429)

    Those old herbal medicine doctors / Chinese traditional medicine

  • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday November 30 2019, @05:03PM (1 child)

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Saturday November 30 2019, @05:03PM (#926453) Journal

    This is proof that it pays not to keep your doorsteps clean and free from plants! :-)

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 01 2019, @01:09PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 01 2019, @01:09PM (#926693)

      Nor the bedroom. How else can one get immunity from spider bites?

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