Dandelion tires? It's not a Beatles lyric, it's biotech

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Dandelion tires? It's not a Beatles lyric, it's biotech

蒲公英輪胎？這可不是披頭四的歌詞，而是新的生物科技

By Nick Glass and Tim Hume, CNN

February 15, 2013 -- Updated 1617 GMT

Wageningen, The Netherlands (CNN) -- The dandelion's bright yellow bloom and fuzzy, parachute-like seeds are a familiar sight across the continents.

But scientists at Dutch biotech firm KeyGene believe the flower's true beauty could lie beneath the soil.

荷蘭瓦赫寧(CNN)—蒲公英黃色的花朵和毛茸茸、傘狀的種子，對大部分的人來說應該不陌生。但荷蘭生技公司KeyGene認為，這種植物真正的美其實不在表面，而是藏在土壤下。

The dandelion's roots contain latex, the milky liquid that is a source for natural rubber and the origin for the plant's name in a number of languages (the Danish for "dandelion" translates as "milk pot").

蒲公英的根部會分泌一種膠狀、乳白色的液體，是製造天然橡膠的原料；而這也成為蒲公英的幾種名字來源，比如丹麥人就稱它為「奶壺」。

Global demand for natural rubber is expected to outstrip supply by 20% by 2020. But KeyGene believes that the dandelion can be developed into an important natural source of the commodity, worth more than $100 billion a year.

The dandelion's roots are smaller than ideal for commercial rubber production. So KeyGene is putting the plant through a process of plant phenotyping in order to develop a variety of dandelion with a fatter root and higher yield, that would be better suited for industrial processing.

專家預估在2020年前，全球對天然橡膠的需求會超越現在的20%。但KeyGene生技公司相信，蒲公英能夠發展為天然橡膠的重要原料，每年能獲益一兆美元以上。但蒲公英的根部和製造橡膠的原料相比，要來得小。因此，KeyGene公司打算用基改或雜交配種的方式來改善這個缺點，讓蒲公英的根部更肥大，同時也提高產量，符合產業需求。