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Phytodetoxification of TNT by transgenic plants expressing a bacterial nitroreductase

Nature Biotechnology volume 19, pages 1168–1172 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

There is major international concern over the wide-scale contamination of soil and associated ground water by persistent explosives residues. 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) is one of the most recalcitrant and toxic of all the military explosives. The lack of affordable and effective cleanup technologies for explosives contamination requires the development of better processes. Significant effort has recently been directed toward the use of plants to extract and detoxify TNT. To explore the possibility of overcoming the high phytotoxic effects of TNT, we expressed bacterial nitroreductase in tobacco plants. Nitroreductase catalyzes the reduction of TNT to hydroxyaminodinitrotoluene (HADNT), which is subsequently reduced to aminodinitrotoluene derivatives (ADNTs). Transgenic plants expressing nitroreductase show a striking increase in ability to tolerate, take up and detoxify TNT. Our work suggests that expression of nitroreductase (NR) in plants suitable for phytoremediation could facilitate the effective cleanup of sites contaminated with high levels of explosives.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by grants from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Ministry of Defence.

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Author notes

  1. Christopher E. French

    Present address: Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Edinburgh, Darwin Building, King's Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JR, Scotland

  2. Hannink Nerissa and Rosser Susan J. contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QT, UK

    Nerissa Hannink, Susan J. Rosser, Christopher E. French, Amrik Basran, James A.H. Murray & Neil C. Bruce

  2. Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Fort Halstead, Sevenoaks, TN14 7BP, Kent, UK

    Stephen Nicklin

Authors
  1. Nerissa Hannink
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  2. Susan J. Rosser
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  5. James A.H. Murray
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  6. Stephen Nicklin
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  7. Neil C. Bruce
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Additional information

The online version of the original article can be found at 10.1038/nbt1201-1120

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Hannink, N., Rosser, S., French, C. et al. Phytodetoxification of TNT by transgenic plants expressing a bacterial nitroreductase. Nat Biotechnol 19, 1168–1172 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1201-1168

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