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  3. A few milliamps of electricity can cause plants to increase synthesis of chemicals. These compounds often also have a pharmacolo

A few milliamps of electricity can cause plants to increase synthesis of chemicals. These compounds often also have a pharmacolo

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问题     A few milliamps of electricity can cause plants to increase synthesis of chemicals. These compounds often also have a pharmacological (related to medicine) or commercial value, so the trick could be used to help increase yields of commercially useful biologicals. Artemisinic acid, from sweet wormwood, for example, is used in malarial medications, and shikonin (紫草素), from the purple gromwell plant, is used against skin infections.
    Researchers have long known that stressing plants can force them to take defensive action, often ramping up the production of protective chemicals that, for example, make them more resistant to insect attack. It has become common practice to stress such plants into increasing their yields. This is usually clone using physical stress elicitors (诱导子), including bits of the micro-organisms that normally attack the plants, or irritants made from metallic compounds such as copper chloride. These are effective, but they come at a cost. Most elicitors are toxic to plants and can build up in tissues, making it necessary to occasionally "clean" a plant of the chemicals so they keep having the same effect.
    Recently, research groups at the University of Arizona in Tucson found that the application of an electric current to the hairy roots of the poisonous herb Hyoscyamus muticus stimulated the production of the herb’s toxin hyoscyamine (天仙子胺). This unpublished finding inspired Hans Van Etten, also of the University of Arizona, and his colleagues to test sub-lethal levels of electrical currents on other plants, to assess electricity’s potential to elevate chemical production.
    The researchers exposed eight different plant species (ranging from Japanese pagoda tree seedlings to pea plants) to weak electrical currents of 30 milliamps. Seven of the plants increased their production o{ defensive chemicals. The average boost of chemical production was 20 times, they report in Biotechnology Progress. One plant, a type of alfalfa, increased its chemical yield by 168 times. These values are very similar to those achieved using chemical elicitors, and seem to have no lethal effects-just a negative effect on growth. The treatment can be used over and over again without the build-up of any unwanted material.
    The useful compounds would be very easy to harvest: they simply pour out into solution if the plants are grown hydroponically. "The fact that we can use electricity instead of toxic materials to elicit chemical production is very exciting because it means we get to look at how these chemicals form without having to constantly add and remove toxins from the system," says Van Etten. "This is a really novel and creative approach that I’ve never seen before," says plant metabolic engineer Fabricio Medina Bolivar from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. "The possibilities for using electricity with plants in this way are absolutely tremendous. "
Electricity acting on plants can be used to ______.
选项 A、take precautions against skin infections
B、increase production of useful biologicals
C、increase pharmacological and commercial value
D、make plants more resistant to attack
答案B
解析 文章开头便提到“几毫安的电流就能够使植物增加化学合成物”，然后接着阐述“这个诀窍可以被用来帮助增加对商业有用的生物制品的生产”，[B]是对本句的同义转述，符合题意。第一段末句提到is used against skin infections，但此处是举例说明紫草素的作用，并不是所有的电流都可以用来治疗皮肤病，故[A]不正确。题干的关键词是Electricity acting on plants，[C]和[D]表述皆不是作用于植物的电流的作用，[C]是compound(化合物)的作用，[D]是文中第二段提到的protective chemicals的作用。  
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