There are now two genetically modified versions of the common houseplant known as pothos designed to enhance its ability to reduce indoor air pollution.
In Canada, Origen Air is already selling air purification systems containing a GM pothos. And in the US, Neoplants plans to start selling another GM pothos to consumers towards the end of 2023.
Indoor air pollution from cooking, cleaning and materials is a growing concern. Back in 1989, a NASA study found that plants put in sealed chambers containing very high levels of common indoor air pollutants such as benzene and formaldehyde 鈥� which can cause cancer 鈥� could reduce the levels of these pollutants.
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That finding led to the widespread notion that putting houseplants in rooms will lower levels of indoor air pollution, but subsequent studies suggest that in people鈥檚 homes.
So, at the University of Washington in Seattle decided to enhance the pollution-reducing power of golden pothos (Epipremnum aureum) by adding a rabbit gene for a liver enzyme that breaks down a wide range of pollutants. This approach boosted the effect several times, but even so, Strand concluded that a fan would be needed to move air over plants to make a meaningful difference.
This GM pothos is now being sold in Canada as part of air purification systems for office buildings that combine high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters with a glass chamber containing the GM pothos. has been selling these systems since the second quarter of 2022, says CEO Susan Blanchet.
Now, a start-up company called Neoplants has created another GM pothos with more extensive modifications. It has two added genes from bacteria as well as extra copies of some of the plant鈥檚 own genes. This enables it to break down benzene, formaldehyde, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene, the company says.
Tests done in collaboration with the University of Lille in France suggest that the plants are 30 times better at removing these air pollutants than the best plants tested by NASA, says Patrick Torbey of Neoplants. The company today released a paper describing its work, but hasn鈥檛 submitted it to a scientific journal.
鈥淭his new paper looks pretty good,鈥� says Strand. It isn鈥檛 possible to directly compare the effectiveness of his GM pothos with the Neoplants one as different tests were done, he says.
Previous studies have shown that part of the pollution-reducing effect seen in some experiments is due to bacteria on the plant or in the soil, not just the plants alone. So, Neoplants has also isolated two bacterial strains that mop up pollutants and evolved them so they are even more effective. It plans to sell the GM pothos along with the bacteria in the soil.
Strand is sceptical about this approach. It is difficult to maintain bacterial populations and there is no easy way to tell if they die out, he says. 鈥淲ith a plant, you can see them.鈥�
It remains unclear whether Neoplants鈥� pothos and bacteria will make any difference in an actual home. But Torbey says the company is setting up a research facility near Paris that will include two 鈥渂edrooms鈥� to test this.
People in the US interested in buying the Neoplants pothos can now add their names to a waiting list, says Torbey, with the company planning to start selling them towards the end of 2023.
The Neoplants pothos has yet to be approved for sale in the US, but the company is confident of getting approval thanks to recent changes to the US regulations governing genetically modified plants. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very straightforward,鈥� says Torbey.
The GM pothos is just the start for Neoplants, he says. The company plans to modify other species of houseplants as well.
