Houseplants Genetically Modified for Degradation of Common Carcinogenic Indoor Air Pollutants

1438266(链)。家庭空气中可能含有超过室内环境健康标准的气态致癌物。该项目将改造一种常见的室内植物，使其具有通常在哺乳动物中表达的基因，这些基因参与对空气污染物（包括苯、二氯苯、氯仿和丙烯醛）的解毒，并具有降解甲醛的细菌基因。这些转基因室内植物有望帮助降低室内空气中常见致癌物的水平。研究人员将测试这些植物在环境条件下的功效及其生物安全性。这个项目将增加减少家中致癌物的方法，这些致癌物占人类癌症风险暴露的很大一部分。这项研究还将澄清实验室在研究室内植物对空气传播污染物的影响时观察到的差异很大的速率。该项目将向学生和教师介绍环境工程领域相对较新的重要技术。研究结果将在国家和国际环境工程会议上发表。将准备一个网站来展示该项目的成果。华盛顿大学的少数族裔科学与工程项目（MESP）和数学、科学、工程成就项目（MESA）将为K-12和本科阶段的弱势群体提供帮助。

1438266 (Strand). Home air can contain gaseous carcinogens at levels that exceed health standards for indoor environments. This project will transform a common houseplant with genes normally expressed in mammals, that are involved in the detoxification of air pollutants, including benzene, dichlorobenzene, chloroform, and acrolein, and with bacterial genes for the degradation of formaldehyde. These transgenic houseplants are expected to have the capability to help decrease the levels of carcinogens common in indoor air. The investigators will test the plants' efficacy under ambient conditions and their biosafety. This project will add to the arsenal of methods for decreasing carcinogens in the home, which make up a significant fraction of human exposures to cancer risk. This research will also clarify the widely varying rates observed by labs working on houseplant effects on air borne pollutants.The project will introduce students and faculty to important techniques that are relatively new to the environmental engineering field. Results will be disseminated by presentations at national and international environmental engineering conferences. A web site will be prepared to showcase the results of the project. Underrepresented groups at the K-12 and undergraduate level will be reached through the minority science and engineering program, MESP, and the mathematics, science, engineering achievement program, MESA, at the University of Washington.