Plant Soil Environ., 2018, 64(8):379-385 | DOI: 10.17221/655/2017-PSE

Degradation of trinitrotoluene by transgenic nitroreductase in Arabidopsis plantsOriginal Paper

Bo ZHU^*,1, Hongjuan HAN², Xiaoyan FU², Zhenjun LI², Jianjie GAO², Quanhong YAO²

¹ Key Laboratory for the Conservation and Utilization of Important Biological Resources, Anhui Province, College of Life Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, P.R. China

² Agro-Biotechnology Research Center, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, P.R. China

The explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) is a highly toxic and persistent environmental pollutant. TNT is toxic to many organisms, it is known to be a potential human carcinogen, and is persistent in the environment. This study presents a system of phytoremediation by Arabidopsis plants developed on the basis of overexpression of NAD(P)H-flavin nitroreductase (NFSB) from the Sulfurimonas denitrificans DSM1251. The resulting transgenic Arabidopsis plants demonstrated significantly enhanced TNT tolerance and a strikingly higher capacity to remove TNT from their media. The highest specific rate constant of TNT disappearance rate was 1.219 and 2.297 mL/g fresh weight/h for wild type and transgenic plants, respectively. Meanwhile, the nitroreductase activity in transgenic plant was higher than wild type plant. All this indicates that transgenic plants show significantly enhanced tolerances to TNT; transgenic plants also exhibit strikingly higher capabilities of removing TNT from their media and high efficiencies of transformation.

Keywords: nitroaromatic compound; biodegradation; contamination; phytotoxicity; fluorescence

Published: August 31, 2018  Show citation