Lettuce could be used to grow drugs on Mars

By Katrina Krämer2019-04-08T14:30:00

An image showing a cosmonaut standing on desert and holding sand with plant in palms

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Infecting plants with a bacterium that can genetically modify plants could be an answer to producing drugs on other planets

Lettuce could be used to make drugs for the first human Mars explorers. By infecting lettuce with genetically modified bacteria, researchers have hijacked the plants’ cellular machinery to make pharmaceuticals when and where they are needed.