Field tests continue in Denmark, Croatia, and Serbia

A Danish plant biotech company, Aresa, has developed a Bio­Sensor for detection of landmines and unexploded ordnance devices on agricultural land that it is currently testing in Croatia, Serbia, and Denmark. The BioSensor, a genetically modified plant which can sense nitrogen-dioxide in soil and change colour from green to red when growing on or in near proximity of landmines, offers hope of clearing deadly land mines around the world more quickly than by current methods.

The plant, Thale Cress, also known as Arabidopsis thaliana, has a short life cycle - six weeks from germination to mature seed. The ARESA modified Thale Cress is very sensitive to nitrogen, a component of the explosives in land mines. Aresa uses a hydroseeder, like those used by golf courses to grow green grass, to plant about a football field of territory in a day. The thale cress sprouts after four to five weeks and turns red if it encounters nitrogen dioxide. Normally, plants neutralize nitrogen dioxide because they recognize it as harmful. However, Aresa's scientists have fused the plant's nitrogen dioxide neutralizer with an enzyme that creates red pigment.

In 2005, Aresa achieved proof-of-concept in a test performed in collaboration with the Danish Demining Centre under the Danish Army. Using three different kinds of land mines in ordinary soil, the test showed plants turning red when growing on or close to landmines. In 2006 Aresa expanded the testing to include additional types of mines over an area of 1,700m². A new test site was set up in Croatia in September 2006 in order to perform plant growth studies in different climatic conditions, in collaboration with the Croatian Mine Action Centre for Testing, Development and Training.

In August 2007, Aresa announced that Serbia and Denmark had approved requests to conduct open deliberate release testing with the modified plant. The Serbian tests will take place near Novi Sad in northeastern Serbia, in cooperation with the agricultural institute NS Seme. The trials will involve seeding various eco-types of Thale cress. Similar testing has been approved in Denmark.

"The approval is an important milestone in Aresa's further development of the landmine detection plant RedDetect™,” said Aresa board chair Ole Andersen. "It is important to Aresa to be able to test the plants outside Denmark, and more importantly, in an area where landmines do occur and soil conditions are similar to where we potentially are going to detect landmines, and other explosives". As an important next step, Aresa expects to transfer the RedDetect™ technology to the tobacco plant, Petit Havana, in order to improve its robustness and commercial potential. NS Seme has significant expertise related to growing and refining tobacco plants.

Simon Oestergaard, chief executive of Aresa, envisions the plant will be used mostly to clear fields suitable for farming. "Initially, we want to clear potential farmland -- so, land that can be used for agricultural production," he said."We have developed a method where you use a conventional pump. You clear a path into the land-mine-infected area, and from this path you can actually spray the seeds 25 meters, up to 100 meters on each side of the path, and by then you are able to cover the land mine-infected area from the side." He added that some areas could be sprayed with seeds from planes.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines estimates that mines cause 15,000 to 20,000 land-mine deaths or injuries annually. Removing the estimated 10 million land mines in 45 countries will cost $33 billion and take 1,100 years at present demining rates, according to the United Nations. As much as 40% of all land in Cambodia and 90% in Angola is unused because of land mines.

Aresa, established in 2001 by Carsten Meier, has developed two plant based technology platforms, BioSensor, and BioPharma, a tool for the optimisation and production of antibodies and proteins in plants, and filed an international patent application for the Biosensor technology in 2002. In 2004, the technology was chosen by the New York Times as being among the most innovative ideas in the world. In 2005, Meier, the company’s chief scientific officer, was awarded the Annual Innovation Prize of the CarlBro Group for the biosensor work. Aresa was listed on the Copenhagen OMX-First North marketplace in 2006.

This story was prepared from a variety of sources, including information on the Aresa website; Modified plant detects land mines, Aug. 29, 2007; Saving lives and limbs with a weed, by Mark Halper, Dec. 3, 2006 in Time Magazine; Danish company develops unique solution to land mines, Radio Free Europe; New weed may flag land mines, byJohn K. Borchardt, Christian Science Monitor; and Land mine detection via plants from GoodMagazine.com, Sept. 13, 2007.

 

UPDATE: Mine-detecting tobacco plant to be tested in South Africa

Scientists from the University of Stellenbosch have teamed up with Danish biotechnology firm Aresa to test a genetically engineered tobacco plant that turns red when it grows near land mines. Aresa has already developed its “RedDetect” technology in a weed called Thales cress, which turns from green to red when it detects nitrogen dioxide leaching from mines buried in the soil. However, the Thales cress is too small to be spotted easily from a distance and Aresa now is exploring tobacco, which grows easily in most parts of the world, said Stellenbosch researcher Estelle Kempen.

Field trials are already under way in Serbia, and researchers from Stellenbosch have applied to the registrar of the Genetically Modified Organisms Act for permission to conduct similar research that would show how the genetically engineered tobacco responds to drought and extreme temperatures, Kempen said. The trials, if approved, would be conducted at the Welgevallen experimental farm on the outskirts of Stellenbosch. The plants would be analysed and destroyed before they began flowering to minimise the risk of environmental contamination, she said. The plant would be used solely for humanitarian purposes, and there were no plans to seek a commercial permit.

Tobacco plants usually only produce red plant pigments in their flowers, which arises from a natural compound called anthocyanin, which is found in fruit such as apples and tomatoes. The technology developed by Aresa activates anthocyanin in the tobacco plant’s leaves if there is soil contamination from explosives such as land mines.

This update was adapted from a story entitled "Super-tobacco sees red at land mines" by Tamar Kuhn, in Business Day, 22 July 2008, and information on the University of Stellenbosch website.

 

 

 

For other stories on land mine clearance, see:

Rats sniff out land mines, tuberculosis in Africa

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