Nature Biotechnology
22, 583 - 588 (2004)
Published online: 11 April 2004; | doi:10.1038/nbt960
Engineered endophytic bacteria improve phytoremediation of water-soluble, volatile, organic pollutantsTanja Barac1, Safiyh Taghavi2, 3, Brigitte Borremans2, Ann Provoost2, Licy Oeyen1, Jan V Colpaert1, Jaco Vangronsveld1
& Daniel van der Lelie2, 31
Limburgs Universitair Centrum (LUC), Department of Environmental Biology, Universitaire Campus building D, B-3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium. 2
Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Environmental Technology Expertise Center, Boeretang 200, B-2400 Mol, Belgium. 3
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Biology Department, Building 463, Upton, New York 11973-5000, USA.
Correspondence should be addressed to Daniel van der Lelie vdlelied@bnl.govPhytoremediation of highly water soluble and volatile organic xenobiotics is often inefficient because plants do not completely degrade these compounds through their rhizospheres. This results in phytotoxicity and/or volatilization of chemicals through the leaves, which can cause additional environmental problems. We demonstrate that endophytic bacteria equipped with the appropriate degradation pathway improve the in planta degradation of toluene. We introduced the pTOM toluene-degradation plasmid of Burkholderia cepacia G4 into B. cepacia L.S.2.4, a natural endophyte of yellow lupine. After surface-sterilized lupine seeds were successfully inoculated with the recombinant strain, the engineered endophytic bacteria strongly degraded toluene, resulting in a marked decrease in its phytotoxicity, and a 50−70% reduction of its evapotranspiration through the leaves. This strategy promises to improve the efficiency of phytoremediating volatile organic contaminants.
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