{"id":3599,"date":"2025-10-31T15:05:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T15:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/31\/pumpkins-could-be-hiding-a-deadly-secret-study-finds\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T15:05:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T15:05:06","slug":"pumpkins-could-be-hiding-a-deadly-secret-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/31\/pumpkins-could-be-hiding-a-deadly-secret-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Pumpkins could be hiding a deadly secret, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>2025-10-31 15:05:03<\/b><br \/>\n<BR>Pumpkins and other gourds may be hiding a toxic secret &#8211; they can absorb dangerous pollutants from the soil and store them in their edible parts.<BR><br \/>\nScientists at Kobe University have discovered that subtle differences in plant proteins explain why pumpkins, courgettes and squash soak up more contaminants than other crops.<BR><br \/>\nThe finding that could lead to pollution-resistant vegetables or even plants designed to clean up contaminated land.<BR><br \/>\nProfessor Hideyuki Inui, the study\u2019s lead scientist, said: \u201cThe pollutants don\u2019t easily break down and thus pose a health risk to people who eat the fruit.<BR><br \/>\n\u201cInterestingly, other plants don\u2019t do this, so I became interested in why this happens in gourds specifically.\u201d<BR><br \/>\nThe team found that a key protein binds to pollutants and transports them through the plant. <BR><br \/>\nIn some varieties, a small molecular \u201ctag\u201d allows this protein to be secreted into the plant\u2019s sap, enabling contaminants to travel into the fruit.<BR><br \/>\nWriting in Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, the researchers reported that plants with this tag, known as high accumulators, are far more prone to absorbing pollutants. <BR><br \/>\nWhen the same protein was introduced into unrelated tobacco plants, they too began moving pollutants into their sap, confirming the mechanism.<BR><br \/>\nProfessor Inui believes the discovery could revolutionise agricultural safety. <BR><br \/>\nHe said: \u201cBy controlling the behaviour of these proteins through genetic modification, it may be possible to grow crops that don\u2019t accumulate harmful chemicals in their edible parts.\u201d<BR><br \/>\nBeyond food safety, the research could help develop bioengineered plants capable of removing contaminants from soil, a process known as phytoremediation.<BR><br \/>\nInui added: \u201cI also envision that this work could lead to plants that effectively digest pollutants and help clean up the environment.\u201d<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Visit Bang Bizarre (main website) <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/xtbac.js\" data-video=\"\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2025-10-31 15:05:03 Pumpkins and other gourds may be hiding a toxic secret &#8211; they can absorb dangerous pollutants from the soil and store them in their edible parts. Scientists at&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bizarre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3601,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599\/revisions\/3601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}