![]() ![]() Together with business partner Jon Christensen, Andersen-Ranberg launched a startup called TriptoBio, and entered into a partnership with the American company. So, like any highly-trained scientist, he Googled it, and learned that Senestech had recently begun marketing its product based on natural triptolide for rat control. Yet having discovered a way to produce the triptolide in the lab, Andersen-Ranberg realized he had no idea what to do with it. “You feed sugar to yeast, and you get this precious substance on the other side.” He has figured out a way to get common yeast, injected with the proper genetic code, to grow triptolide. That’s where Danish biologist Johan Andersen-Ranberg comes in. Each plant produces so little triptolide that, in the region, the substance is worth 15 times its weight in gold. Used in traditional Chinese medicine, triptolide is derived from a rare plant called Thunder God Vine that grows in the country’s mountains and is mostly harvested by hand. Until now, the labor and expense involved in attaining one of the product’s active ingredients had also been a challenge. Rats learn to avoid bait that makes them sick and can even build up resistance to some rodenticides. Chemical poisons cause pain before death and are toxic to other animals who might ingest them, and their residue can contaminate soil and water. Traps can be cruel-glue traps often leave the animal starving for days before dying, while rats caught in snap traps will chew off their own limbs to free themselves. And global warming brought on by humans has also boosted populations warmer winters allow rats to breed during months that were previously too cold.Īgainst this rising army of rodents, most available weapons fall short ethically, environmentally, efficiently, or all of the above. ![]() “Besides being spread by humans from their native range in Asia, they benefit from human constructions-first granaries, then cities have provided food sources and perfect habitat for rats.”Įven the signature human invention of plastic has contributed, by making a lot more food accessible to rats now that trash is generally put out in flimsy bags rather than sturdy metal cans. “It’s one of the species that has benefitted from the success of humans,” says biologist Naia Morueta-Holme, professor of macroecology at the University of Copenhagen. ![]()
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