Self-Trimming Anti-Weed GMO Grass:
Each year, millions of gallons of gasoline are consumed to support the trimming of lawns. Gene modification techniques in botany have already yielded real benefits such as herbicide and pesticide resistant crops, resulting in crop yield improvements that have saved billions from starvation. As the world runs out of oil, conserving energy will remain important.
Leaving lawns untrimmed contributes to the spread of disease through fleas and ticks that thrive in tall grass. I propose that we must balance the need to conserve energy with the need to reduce the spread of insect-borne disease. Using our modern understanding of genetics, it is surely possible to develop a new variety of grass tailored to trim itself.
Each blade of grass may be programmed to have a biological ‘awareness’ of its own length and to automatically send a ‘kill signal’ to trigger cell apoptosis in the cells most distant from the root when a certain length is achieved. This same blade of grass could be tailored to secrete a chemical that would be harmful to known species of weeds, but not to other plant life, and not to itself.
In this way, any lawn growing this type of grass would remain weed-free, and the care of such a lawn would require only trimming around the perimeter and no further lawn work. This GMO grass product would be highly profitable if marketed as a product that will save consumers money in the long term, but could have real environmental benefits as well.
The Future is Made in America
05Sep2021
Each year, millions of gallons of gasoline are consumed to support the trimming of lawns. Gene modification techniques in botany have already yielded real benefits such as herbicide and pesticide resistant crops, resulting in crop yield improvements that have saved billions from starvation. As the world runs out of oil, conserving energy will remain important.
Leaving lawns untrimmed contributes to the spread of disease through fleas and ticks that thrive in tall grass. I propose that we must balance the need to conserve energy with the need to reduce the spread of insect-borne disease. Using our modern understanding of genetics, it is surely possible to develop a new variety of grass tailored to trim itself.
Each blade of grass may be programmed to have a biological ‘awareness’ of its own length and to automatically send a ‘kill signal’ to trigger cell apoptosis in the cells most distant from the root when a certain length is achieved. This same blade of grass could be tailored to secrete a chemical that would be harmful to known species of weeds, but not to other plant life, and not to itself.
In this way, any lawn growing this type of grass would remain weed-free, and the care of such a lawn would require only trimming around the perimeter and no further lawn work. This GMO grass product would be highly profitable if marketed as a product that will save consumers money in the long term, but could have real environmental benefits as well.
The Future is Made in America
05Sep2021
