Mar 26, 2022 09:46 PM
(This post was last modified: Mar 26, 2022 09:55 PM by C C.)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022.../100935510
EXCERPTS: Want to go to Mars? Then you could end up eating a lot of lettuce. But not any ordinary lettuce. Researchers from the University of California, Davis, have genetically engineered lettuce to produce a drug based on a human hormone that keeps bones strong.
It is the latest development in the emerging field of designing food and drugs suitable for long-distance space travel. Astronauts lose on average about 1 per cent of their bone mass a month in space.
"Right now, astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have certain exercise regimens to try to maintain bone mass," said Kevin Yates, who presented the team's work at the American Chemical Society meeting earlier this week. "But they're not typically on the International Space Station for more than six months."
A round trip to Mars would take around three years (as long as you didn't get left behind like Mark Whatney in The Martian). To prevent bone loss for that period of time, you'd not only need to commit to a serious workout, but you'd have to inject yourself with parathyroid hormone (PTH) every day.
So let us take a closer look at how this lettuce fits in with the future of space travel...
[...] "You can't take everything with you [limited storage on a 3 years spaceflight] ... Plants are great because you can take seeds" [and grow them]...
[...] "Lettuce is great because it grows pretty fast," said Jenny Mortimer, who also studies future plants at the Waite Research Institute. ... There's been a big move over the past few years to start to produce molecules, drugs, and even plastics in biological organisms, Professor Gilliham said.
[...] The researchers attached a molecule to the genetic code of parathyroid hormone to keep it stable, then transferred this to the lettuce via a bacterium. The idea is that astronauts could then eat the medication, rather than inject it.
[...] Preliminary results indicate that, on average, the plants produce about 10-12 milligrams of the modified hormone per kilogram of fresh lettuce. That means an astronaut would currently need to eat eight cups of lettuce a day to get enough of the hormone to keep their bones strong.
The team will next try to tweak the lettuce to make it more efficient at producing the drug, so astronauts won't have to eat as much. They'd also like to see how it grows on the ISS... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Want to go to Mars? Then you could end up eating a lot of lettuce. But not any ordinary lettuce. Researchers from the University of California, Davis, have genetically engineered lettuce to produce a drug based on a human hormone that keeps bones strong.
It is the latest development in the emerging field of designing food and drugs suitable for long-distance space travel. Astronauts lose on average about 1 per cent of their bone mass a month in space.
"Right now, astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have certain exercise regimens to try to maintain bone mass," said Kevin Yates, who presented the team's work at the American Chemical Society meeting earlier this week. "But they're not typically on the International Space Station for more than six months."
A round trip to Mars would take around three years (as long as you didn't get left behind like Mark Whatney in The Martian). To prevent bone loss for that period of time, you'd not only need to commit to a serious workout, but you'd have to inject yourself with parathyroid hormone (PTH) every day.
So let us take a closer look at how this lettuce fits in with the future of space travel...
[...] "You can't take everything with you [limited storage on a 3 years spaceflight] ... Plants are great because you can take seeds" [and grow them]...
[...] "Lettuce is great because it grows pretty fast," said Jenny Mortimer, who also studies future plants at the Waite Research Institute. ... There's been a big move over the past few years to start to produce molecules, drugs, and even plastics in biological organisms, Professor Gilliham said.
[...] The researchers attached a molecule to the genetic code of parathyroid hormone to keep it stable, then transferred this to the lettuce via a bacterium. The idea is that astronauts could then eat the medication, rather than inject it.
[...] Preliminary results indicate that, on average, the plants produce about 10-12 milligrams of the modified hormone per kilogram of fresh lettuce. That means an astronaut would currently need to eat eight cups of lettuce a day to get enough of the hormone to keep their bones strong.
The team will next try to tweak the lettuce to make it more efficient at producing the drug, so astronauts won't have to eat as much. They'd also like to see how it grows on the ISS... (MORE - missing details)
