- Researchers have genetically modified a common indoor plant, Pothos Ivy, to remove pollutants inside the house, including chloroform and benzene that have been linked to cancer
- The modified plants express a protein, called P450 2E1 or 2E1, that transforms these compounds into molecules that the plants can then use to support their own growth.
- For the study, the team tested how well their modified plants could remove the pollutants from air compared to normal pothos ivy.
- They put modified plant and normal pothos ivy in glass tubes and added either benzene or chloroform gas into each tube.
- They found that the concentration of either gas did not change for normal plants.
- However, for the modified plants, the concentration of chloroform dropped by 82%, and it was almost undetectable by day six.
