Departmental Papers (Dental)
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
4-2009
Publication Source
Current Opinion in Biotechnology
Volume
20
Issue
2
Start Page
213
Last Page
219
DOI
10.1016/j.copbio.2009.02.010
Abstract
Most phytoremediation studies utilize merA or merB genes to modify plants via the nuclear or chloroplast genome, expressing organomercurial lyase and/or mercuric ion reductase in the cytoplasm, endoplasmic reticulum or within plastids. Several plant species including Arabidopsis, tobacco, poplar, rice, Eastern cottonwood, peanut, salt marsh grass and Chlorella have been transformed with these genes. Transgenic plants grew exceedingly well in soil contaminated with organic (~400 μM PMA) or inorganic mercury (~500 μM HgCl2), accumulating Hg in roots surpassing the concentration in soil (~2000 μg/g). However, none of these plants were tested in the field to demonstrate real potential of this approach. Availability of metal transporters, translocators, chelators and the ability to express membrane proteins could further enhance mercury phytoremediation capabilities.
Copyright/Permission Statement
© <2009>. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Recommended Citation
Ruiz, O. N., & Daniell, H. (2009). Genetic Engineering to Enhance Mercury Phytoremediation. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 20 (2), 213-219. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2009.02.010
Date Posted: 01 March 2022
This document has been peer reviewed.