The World's Highest Laboratory The space station's finished. Now
what? - By Guy Gugliotta - Air & Space magazine, March 2012
(Page 3 of 5) Scientists are interested in jatropha because it
produces a fruit whose seeds yield an astonishingly pure oil
that is an ideal source of biodiesel. “The problem is we don’t
have commercial cultivars yet,” Vendrame says. “It’s a wild
species and it’s like somebody found the first corn plant.”
Jatropha may be a source of revenue for growers in the state of
Florida, which, worried about winter freezes, citrus canker, and
other threats to its groves, is looking for a profitable
alternative to oranges and grapefruit. But jatropha’s early
promise faded because of improper cultivation practices; in
addition, there are too many varieties of the plant with too few
desirable characteristics. Vendrame is using his best plants on
the station, and comparing the results with his ground samples,
hoping to more quickly identify genes that produce the most oil.
In traditional harvesting on