June 3, 1996
| In human beings, antioxidants such as vitamin E can help prevent cancer and heart disease. In trees, antioxidants appear to counteract the harmful effects of ozone pollution. Biologist Gopi Podila at Michigan Technological University has discovered a gene that makes some aspen trees unusually ozone-tolerant by triggering extra production of superoxide dismutase, an antioxidant enzyme. Podila is now transplanting the gene to ozone-sensitive aspen trees to determine whether antioxidant genes could boost forest productivity in polluted areas. |
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