By Steve Koppes
Purdue University’s College of Agriculture has joined an effort to mobilize plants as chemical intelligence gatherers.
Collaborating with STR, an information science company, the Purdue team will test whether plants exhibit observable responses to synthetic chemical exposures. This would include whether a corn plant exposed to a precursor of a chemical of interest responds the same way as it would to a pesticide.
The effort is supported by a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program called eX Virentia, Latin for “from the greenery.” STR and Purdue are one of four teams nationally to receive DARPA funding for pursuing preliminary work on the project. The unclassified project focuses on plants already found in nature or agriculture; the work involves no genetically modified organisms or hazardous chemicals.
“Everything we’re learning is going to be widely available and made public,” said Joshua Widhalm, associate professor of horticulture and director of the Center for Plant Biology. The work focuses on understanding how plants respond to synthetic chemical exposures and whether those responses are observable and can be distinguished from other chemicals and environmental stresses.
Source : purdue.edu