Epipremnum aureum (commonly known as Pothos — our foundation to build the Neo P1) possesses one of the highest bioremediation efficacy amongst indoor plants and contains tens of thousands of genes in its DNA. Each gene can be thought of as a line of code, instructing the plant to produce a protein with a specific function, helping its cells to survive and thrive.

Through transgenesis, we inserted a few additional genes, or lines of code, enabeling the plant to produce enzymes with a new function: turning pollutants into plant matter. This is called metabolism engineering.

By introducing these genes, we created two new synthetic metabolic pathways. The first enzymatic pathway turns formaldehyde into fructose, a sugar that the plant uses as food source. The second turns benzene, toluene, ethyl-benzene and xylene (BTEX) into an amino acid that the plant uses as building block for its proteins. This enables every one of the plant’s cells to become a natural air purifier.

No plant lives alone. In fact they thrive thanks to billions of microorganisms, helping the plant to grow and stay healthy.

There are hundreds of different species of bacteria and fungi living on the leaves, around the roots and even inside the plant, constituting its microbiome. Some of these bacteria are innately able to use pollutants as a food source.

We selected two of these beneficial bacteria, and enhanced their bioremediation efficiency through artificial evolution. These two new bacterial strains are now highly specialised in metabolising either formaldehyde or BTEX.

We then performed microbiome engineering by innoculating Neo P1’s root system with these two strains, creating a symbiotic plant-bacteria relationship designed to clean indoor air of VOCs: we call these Power Drops. This relationship becomes less stable after several weeks, which is why it’s best to innoculate Neo P1 with Power Drops once a month for maximum efficiency.