Ingenieros en el Instituto Tecnológico de Massachusetts (MIT) han transformado plantas de espinaca en sensores para detectar explosivos. Esto se logra incorporando nanotubos de carbono en las hojas de las plantas. A este tipo de aplicación se la llama nanobiónica. Como parte de la investigación, las plantas de espinaca fueron modificadas para detectar nitroaromáticos. Si aguas subterráneas absorbidas por la planta contienen uno de estos productos químicos, los nanotubos de carbono incrustados emiten una señal fluorescente, que puede ser leída con una cámara de infrarrojos conectada a un ordenador pequeño, de manera remota.
Nanoparticles below 10 nm in dimension are commensurate in size with the proteins and other macromolecules that comprise living plants, and therefore have potential to introduce non-native and unexpected funct ionalities, such as biochemical sensing and communications, into wild-type living plants. Plants continually exchange fluids and gases with their environment. Transpiration in plants is characterized by several attributes: stabilization and flow of liquid water at large negative pressures, continuous heat transfer with the evaporation of liquid water at negative pressure, and the continuous extract ion of liquid water from subsaturated sources. These properties render plants potentially compelling platforms for the extraction and subsequent detection of low concentrations of specific environmental analytes. However, the engineering of naturally occurring, wild-type plants as microfluidic, self-powered autosamplers of their sur roundings has not yet been considered. << Leer más >>
Fuente: http://www.nature.com
