Plants Change Our Life

By+Xi+Wang

Higher And Higher Yield！

In the late 19th century and early 20th century， the output of rice is pitifully low， even in the southern region known as “land of fish and rice”， the per mu yiel in good times is only more than 20 kilograms.

With the development of science and technology， the two green revolution marked by the use of fertilizer and the cultivation of dwarf rice increase the yield of rece to above 600 kilograms in less than 60 years. The emergence of hybride even increase the yield per mu to nearly 1000 kilograms. The progress of chemical industry and brerding technolog got our people rid of the shadow of the lack of food thoroughly， made the agricultural miracle of feeding the 22% of the worlds population by the 7% of the worlds arable lands.

Resist Insects Without Drugs

The increase of crop yield make people happy， but also has attracted some pretenders. The destruction of pests is one of the important factors in reduction of output. It has become a headache problem to control pests.

People have been fighting against pests with pesticides for a long time. But the use of the pesticides brings other problems， such as environmental pollution and pesticide residues in food. Then can we make the plants themselves have the ability to resist pests， so we neednt to spray pesticdes？ With the help of modern biological technology， this dream has been realized. The scientists put a insect-resistant gene into crops， making crops produce a protein that targets at pests specifically. After eating these crops， the pests will escape. At present， the insect-resistant soybeans， corns and rapeseed have been planted widely in the world. According to the research， these insect-resistant crops have reduce the damage by more than 80%.

Can Corn Turn Into Sugar？

In addition to make crops grow well， people also want to make food more diverse and delicious. Take the sweet flavor people all like as an example， before the mid-20th century， the main source of sweetness is sugar. Sugar are extracted from sugar cane or sugar beet in the temperate zone. Subjected to the conditions of planting area， the price of sugar is high， what can people do to get cheaper sugar？

The scientists turn to the food crop of the worlds largest planting area——corn. Scientists decompose the corn starch with enzyme， getting glucose and fructose. As the maize yield is high， this “high fructose syrup” is much cheaper than sucrose， moreover its sweeter than sucrose， so is widely used in the food field.

Energy Can Be Produced By Plants

Ancient trees and plankton buried beneath the earth changed into coal and energy after many geological events happened millions of years ago. Thus， it will take too much time for plants to turn into energy that can be accessible to human beings. Nowadays， scientists are trying to shorten the time， they take advantage of photosynthesis and saccharides process to make plants undergo better photosynthesis， in this way， plants can accumulate more elements like saccharides and cellulose. However， woods composed of fibrin are hard to be used， so scientists change the micro-structure of it to degrade cellulose into micromolecular saccharides by enzyme. As a result， plants are able to provide more cheap sugar for fermentation of ethyl alcohol which is a better substance of energy source.

At the same time， scientists can use less time to produce oil by plants. Oil is a mixture of alkane and other carbon-containing compound ， with different length of carbon chain. Many plants， as a matter of fact， can compound similar aliphatic ester whose characteristic is very close to diesel， so it can be also called biodiesel. The tiny alga is the most productive one among plants that can extract biodiesel. According to calculations， over 1.6 liter of biodiesel can be extracted from alga of a hectare of waters. It can be imagined that， in the near future， baren fields can become coal field or oil field as long as human beings can grow more energy plants on the sterile field， or we can foster the microalga in the man-made pool. Meanwhile， the reduction of fossil fuel leads to a cleaner environment.

Plant Cell

It has been talked about that scientistscan turn plants into energy material， then will plants directly provide one of the most easy to use energy- electricity in the future？ The answer is yes.

The first step of photosynthesis is to turn light energy into electricity. Using photosynthetic pigment and protein， plants transform the energy of light to water， forcing the water into oxygen and protons， producing electrons at the same time. In general， protons and electrons are used in the synthesis of sugar with carbon dioxide. But after the transformation by scientists， these protons and electrons are released again in the form of hydrogen， thus plants are turned into an efficient water resolver， producing the oxygen and hydrogen， the gases then turn into electricity through burning or fuel cell. Further more， we can collect the electrons produced by plants， forming “plant cell” for human use.

Mining Plants

In the future， the plants will replace the hard-working workers in the mines， mining for mankind. How do plants mining？ Their roots can absorb all kinds of underground minerals into the body， and then the minerals can deposite in the body. For example， many plants， including maize， are found able to accumulate gold metal and other mineral in blades.

Of course， the ability of todays plants to absorb and accumulate is very weak， and many minerals are deep buried in the ground， the existing plant roots cannot reach the ground floor where minerals exist. However， scientists can transform the plants to make their roots more developed， spread to the deeper and broader scope； at the same time， scientists will strengthen the absorption ability of the roots， and make the plants be able to bear high concentrations of mineral compositons absorbed into the body， to facilitate the separation and extraction of human beings. Thus as long as the “mining plants” are planted in the mine areas， we will continuously extract useful minerals from the plant leaves and branches. People dont have to dig dangerous mine holes or extract minerals from harmful solutions. In addition， these “mining plants” can not only be used in mining， but also in absorb the harmful metallic elements from the land of heavy metal pollution for human use， achieving the goal of “turn waste into wealth”.

Air Purification Tree

Environmental pollution is of everyones concerns， and the plant is a natural “air purifier”. The plant itself can reduce the dust content in the air， absorb the harmful gas and so on. In the future， the plants after transformation will play more important roles. For example， more fine hairs will grow on the blade， which will filter large dust in the air， and directly reduce the PM2.5 particles； the stomatal activities and other physiological functions change， so they can absorb the harmful gases such as sulfur dioxide， nitrogen oxides more effectively， and turn them into the food for itself to grow…… the plants in the future will make air cleaner， let people breathe more easily and the earth will be more healthy.

The Space Pioneer

We have talked the “work” on the earth for plants above. But people certainly wouldnt just curle up in the bosom of the earth mother， we want to advance in the space. The plants modified by scientists will also make important contributions when people conquer the vast space. On the spacecraft， the future space plants are “masters” of the above sorts of plants. For instance， the space plants dont need much light， they can absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen to maintain the ecological stability inside the space ship， and provide adequate food for space travelers； as human find the environment suitable planet， the first thing to do is to plant the modified plant on the planet， to create a more suitable environment for human to survive， these plants will also prduce minerals， turn to energy for human use…… these magical plants will be the “vanguard” as people pioneering in the space， they will must make great contributions as people discovering and conquering the universe.