Genetic Tweak Turns Dandelion Into Latex Machine

摘要

You know the milky gooey sap that appears on the stem of a dandelion after you pop the flower head off with your thumb? It's jam packed with natural rubber.And not just any natural rubber, but one that exhibits all the elasticity of natural rubber from other, more commonly used sources, but that includes none of the impurities and contaminants of latex increasingly documented to cause severe and sometimes lethal allergic reactions in some individuals.