Tobacco plants could soon be used to produce biofuel, as researchers have identified a means to increase the oil in their leaves.
Vyacheslav Andrianov of Thomas Jefferson University explained that tobacco is particularly attractive because the plants are not used in food production.
Tobacco is known to be able to generate biofuel more efficiently than other crops, but most of this is in the seeds and the plants yield only about 600kg of these per acre.
However, the study – published in Plant Biotechnology Journal – showed engineering makes it possible to double the amount found in leaves.
"Based on [the] data, tobacco represents an attractive and promising ‘energy plant’ platform and could also serve as a model for the utilisation of other high-biomass plants for biofuel production," said Dr Andrianov.
Last month, the UK Nuffield Council on Bioethics launched a consultation – inviting people to give their views on biofuels.
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