Trends in phytoremediation of radionuclides

Phytoremediation, a novel plant-based remediation technology, is applied to a variety of radionuclide-contaminated sites all over the world. Phytoremediation is defined as the use of green plants to remove pollutants from the environment or to render them harmless. Current status of several subsets of phytoremediation of radionuclides is discussed: (a) phytoextraction, in which high biomass radionuclide-accumulating plants and appropriate soil amendments are used to transport and concentrate radionuclides from the soil into the above-ground shoots, which are harvested with conventional agricultural methods, (b) rhizofiltration, in which plant roots are used to precipitate and concentrate radionuclides from polluted effluents, (c) phytovolatilization, in which plants extract volatile radionuclides from soil and volatilize them from the foliage and (d) phytostabilization, in which plants stabilize radionuclides in soils, thus rendering them harmless. It is shown that phytoremediation is a fast developing field and the phytoremediation of radionuclides might soon become an integral part of the environment management and risk reduction process.     

Phytoextraction: a cost-effective plant-based technology for the removal of metals from the environment

Phytoremediation is an emerging technology that uses plants to clean up pollutants (metals and organics) from the environment. Within this field of phytoremediation, the utilization of plants to transport and concentrate metals from the soil into the harvestable parts of roots and above-ground shoots is usually called phytoextraction. Most traditional remediation methods do not provide acceptable solutions for the removal of metals from soils. By contrast, phytoextraction of metals is a cost-effective approach that uses metal-accumulating plants to clean up these soils. Subsequently, the harvestable parts, rich in accumulated metals, can be easily and safely processed by drying, ashing or composting. Some extracted metals can also be reclaimed from the ash, generating recycling revenues. Phytoextraction appears a very promising technology for the removal of metal pollutants from the environment and may be, at present, approaching commercialization.     

An overview of phytoremediation as a potentially promising technology for environmental pollution control

Phytoremediation is the use of plants for the removal of pollutants from contaminated soil or water. Phytoremediation is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative to current remediation technologies. This review article outlines general aspects of phytoremediation, along with discussions about its advantages and limitations. It further reviews various phytoremediation processes in detail: phytoextraction, rhizofiltration, phytostabilization, phytodegradation, and phytovolatilization. Unlike previous review articles available in various journals, this paper presents a more comprehensive view of this issue, and deals with a much wider range of its applications to environmental pollution control. These include the treatment of wastewaters, removal of heavy metals and metalloids (e.g. lead and arsenic), phytoremediation of organic pollutants, such as 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and cleanup of soil and water contaminated with radionuclides, such as cesium (¹³⁷Cs) and strontium (⁹⁰Sr). This paper also describes recent developments of transgenic plants for improving phytoremediation. Along the way, the present status of phytoremediation research in Korea is briefly introduced. Finally, the article concludes with suggestions for future research.     

Transgenic plants for phytoremediation

Phytoremediation is a green, sustainable and promising solution to problems of environmental contamination. It entails the use of plants for uptake, sequestration, detoxification or volatilization of inorganic and organic pollutants from soils, water, sediments and possibly air. Phytoremediation was born from the observation that plants possessed physiological properties useful for environmental remediation. This was shortly followed by the application of breeding techniques and artificial selection to genetically improve some of the more promising and interesting species. Now, after nearly 20 years of research, transgenic plants for phytoremediation have been produced, but none have reached commercial existence. Three main approaches have been developed: (1) transformation with genes from other organisms (mammals, bacteria, etc.); (2) transformation with genes from other plant species; and (3) overexpression of genes from the same plant species. Many encouraging results have been reported, even though in some instances results have been contrary to expectations. This review will illustrate the main examples with a critical discussion of what we have learnt from them.     

大沽排污河生态修复河道水质综合评价及生物毒性影响

为了改善城市河道水质,实现排污河污染控制与修复,在天津市大沽排污河的上游代表性河段开展了河道原位生态修复工程示范。对植物修复后河道的污染状况进行了监测和分析,与清洁河道做了比较,并对水质修复效果和生物毒性影响状况进行综合分析和评价,研究生态修复示范工程对排污河水质的修复效果和生态效应。结果表明:经种植水葱等水生植物进行生态修复后,河道污染一定程度上降低,水质得到改善。大沽河主要污染是营养元素N、P污染和有机物污染,重金属污染不严重。植物修复对电导率、溶解性总固体(TDS)、盐度、氯化物有一定影响,但影响不显著;对COD等有机污染的修复效果较好,最高去除效率可达54%,但相比清洁水域值依然较高,有机污染依然较严重;对营养元素N、P没有修复效果,反而修复区有升高的趋势,相对清洁水域污染严重。主成分分析表明水质参数主要是氨氮、总氮、总磷代表的营养元素及pH值、DO、电导率、TDS、盐度和氯化物,综合评定结果显示修复区域芦苇根部水质最好;聚类分析将17个水质指标分成5类,并与主成分分析结果显示出一致性。植物根际周边的微生物数量多,群落多样性高。植物修复对水样植物毒性影响明显,能降低其毒性;水样对发光菌均具有毒性作用,存在潜在的急性生物毒性;修复区水样对水生动物大型蚤不存在急性生物毒性。     

Conjugating Enzymes Involved in Xenobiotic Metabolism of Organic Xenobiotics in Plants

Phytoremediation of organic pollutants has become a topic of great interest in many countries due to the increasing number of recorded spill sites. When applying plant remediation techniques to unknown pollutant mixtures, information on the uptake rates as well as on the final fate of the compounds is generally lacking. A range of compounds are easily taken up by plants, whereas others may stay motionless and recalcitrant in the soil or sediment. Uptake is a necessary prerequisite for close contact between the pollutant and the detoxifying enzymes of plants that are localized in the cytosol of living cells. The presence and activity of these enzymes is crucial for a potential metabolization and further degradation of the chemicals under consideration. Conjugation to biomolecules is regarded as a beneficial detoxification reaction. The present review summarizes several prerequisites for pollutant uptake and discusses information on conjugating detoxification reactions. The final fate of compounds is critically discussed and perspectives for phytoremediation are given.     

Genetic improvement of tree species for remediation of hazardous wastes

Summary Phytoremediation, using plants to clean up toxic wastes, is an idea that is attracting increasing attention from scientists, remediation engineers, and environmental professionals in government, industry, and universities. In situ remediation using plants has the potential to be less expensive than current technologies and to simultaneously initiate both detoxification of hazardous waste and site restoration. The perennial habit, extensive root mass, and large transpirational rates give trees advantages over other plants for use in remediation. Trees are already used for wastewater clean-up, for site stabilization, and as barriers to subsurface flow of contaminated groundwater. Clonal propagation and the genetic tools of both classical breeding and genetic engineering exist for a number of both angiosperm and gymnosperm species, opening the door to creation of tree “remediation” cultivars. Work is underway to screen tree species for their ability to tolerate, take up, translocate, sequester, and degrade organic compounds and heavy metal ions. Both an indirect approach to remediation, through enhancing rhizosphere degradation of pollutants by engineering larger root masses in trees usingAgrobacterium rhizogenes, and a direct approach to remediation, through transformation of trees with bacterial genes known to initiate the mineralization of halogenated phenolic compounds and trichloroethylene are reviewed. Presented in the Session-in-Depth Bioremediation through Biotechnological Means at the 1993 Congress on Cell and Tissue Culture, San Diego, CA, June 5–9, 1993.     

植物修复重金属污染及内生细菌效应

土壤和水体的重金属污染已严重危害人类生存环境与健康。由于受重金属污染的环境分布广泛,迫切需要开发经济的清除环境重金属的技术。植物修复是通过绿色植物降解或移除环境污染物,有望成为重金属污染环境的原位修复技术。植物内生菌是指定殖于健康植物的各种组织和器官内部的细菌,被感染的宿主植物不表现出外在病症,耐重金属的内生菌在多种超富集植物中存在。在植物修复过程中,野生型内生菌或基因工程内生菌的抗性系统能降低重金属植物毒性,促进其迁移金属。耐重金属内生菌还可以通过固氮、溶解矿物元素及产生类植物激素、铁载体和ACC脱氨酶等产物促进植物的生长。主要综述目前植物-内生菌相互作用及其潜在的促进植物修复重金属污染的研究进展。     

花卉植物应用于污染土壤修复的可行性研究

植物修复是解决污染土壤问题的有效途径之一,而已报道的超积累植物的种类非常有限.如果能从物种繁多的花卉植物中筛选出修复植物,不但能够弥补这一不足,而且还能在美化环境的同时,产生一定的经济效益.从植物修复的重要性和修复植物的筛选出发,概括了修复植物的判断标准及基本特征.通过描述花卉植物资源及其在环境保护中的作用,列举花卉植物与其它植物相比的优势,分析花卉植物的耐性、积累性和修复类型,探讨花卉植物应用于污染土壤修复实践的可行性.从花卉中筛选超积累植物,将为污染土壤的修复工作提供的生物材料.     

Phytoremediation of organic contaminants in soils

Soil pollution, a very important environmental problem, has been attracting considerable public attention over the last decades. Unfortunately, the enormous costs associated with the removal of pollutants from soils by means of traditional physicochemical methods have been encouraging companies to ignore the problem. Phytoremediation is an emerging technology that uses plants to clean up pollutants in the environment. As overwhelmingly positive results have become available regarding the ability of plants to degrade certain organic compounds, more and more people are getting involved in the phytoremediation of organic contaminants. Phytoremediation of organics appears a very promising technology for the removal of these contaminants from polluted sites.     

Phytoremediation of toxic aromatic pollutants from soil

The enormous growth of industrialization, and the use of numerous aromatic compounds in dyestuffs, explosives, pesticides and pharmaceuticals has resulted in serious environmental pollution and has attracted considerable attention continuously over the last two decades. Many aromatic hydrocarbons, nitroaromatic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, diauxins and their derivatives are highly toxic, mutagenic and/or carcinogenic to natural microflora as well as to higher systems including humans. The increasing costs and limited efficiency of traditional physicochemical treatments of soil have spurred the development of new remediation technologies. Phytoremediation is emerging as an efficient treatment technology that uses plants to bioremediate pollutants from soil environments. Various modern tools and analytical devices have provided insight into the selection and optimization of remediation processes by various plant species. Sites heavily polluted with organic contaminants require hyperaccumulators, which could be developed by genetic engineering approaches. However, efficient hyperaccumulation by naturally occurring plants is also feasible and can be made practical by improving their nutritional and environmental requirements. Thus, phytoremediation of organics appears a very promising technology for the removal of contaminants from polluted soil. In this review, certain aspects of plant metabolism associated with phytoremediation of organic contaminants and their relevant phytoremediation efforts are discussed.IMTECH Communication No. 013/2002     

Phytoremediation--a novel and promising approach for environmental clean-up

Phytoremediation is an eco friendly approach for remediation of contaminated soil and water using plants. Phytoremediation is comprised of two components, one by the root colonizing microbes and the other by plants themselves, which degrade the toxic compounds to further non-toxic metabolites. Various compounds, viz. organic compounds, xenobiotics, pesticides and heavy metals, are among the contaminants that can be effectively remediated by plants. Plant cell cultures, hairy roots and algae have been studied for their ability to degrade a number of contaminants. They exhibit various enzymatic activities for degradation of xenobiotics, viz. dehalogenation, denitrification leading to breakdown of complex compounds to simple and non-toxic products. Plants and algae also have the ability to hyper accumulate various heavy metals by the action of phytochelatins and metallothioneins forming complexes with heavy metals and translocate them into vacuoles. Molecular cloning and expression of heavy metal accumulator genes and xenobiotic degrading enzyme coding genes resulted in enhanced remediation rates, which will be helpful in making the process for large-scale application to remediate vast areas of contaminated soils. A few companies worldwide are also working on this aspect of bioremediation, mainly by transgenic plants to replace expensive physical or chemical remediation techniques. Selection and testing multiple hyperaccumulator plants, protein engineering ofphytochelatin and membrane transporter genes and their expression would enhance the rate of phytoremediation, making this process a successful one for bioremediation of environmental contamination. Recent years have seen major investments in the R&D, which have also resulted in competition of filing patents by several companies for economic gains. The details of science & technology related to phytoremediation have been discussed with a focus on future trends and prospects of global relevance.     

高生物量经济植物修复重金属污染土壤研究进展

植物修复是重金属污染土壤修复的重要方法之一。利用高生物量经济植物修复重金属污染土壤,能够兼顾生态和经济效益,具有很大的应用前景。本文系统分析了植物修复现状及存在的问题,提出利用高生物量经济植物修复重金属污染土壤的优势,总结了近年来利用高生物量经济植物吸收重金属的研究进展,探讨了改善高生物量经济植物修复重金属污染土壤效率的方法,以期为提高植物修复经济效益、促进植物修复广泛应用提供参考。     

Recent Findings on the Phytoremediation of Soils Contaminated with Environmentally Toxic Heavy Metals and Metalloids Such as Zinc,Cadmium, Lead,and Arsenic

Due to their immutable nature, metals are a group of pollutants of much concern. As a result of human activities such as mining and smelting of metalliferous ores, electroplating, gas exhaust, energy and fuel production, fertilizer and pesticide application, etc., metal pollution has become one of the most serious environmental problems today. Phytoremediation, an emerging cost-effective, non-intrusive, and aesthetically pleasing technology, that uses the remarkable ability of plants to concentrate elements and compounds from the environment and to metabolize various molecules in their tissues, appears very promising for the removal of pollutants from the environment. Within this field of phytoremediation, the utilization of plants to transport and concentrate metals from the soil into the harvestable parts of roots and above-ground shoots, i.e., phytoextraction, may be, at present, approaching commercialization. Improvement of the capacity of plants to tolerate and accumulate metals by genetic engineering should open up new possibilities for phytoremediation. The lack of understanding pertaining to metal uptake and translocation mechanisms, enhancement amendments, and external effects of phytoremediation is hindering its full scale application. Due to its great potential as a viable alternative to traditional contaminated land remediation methods, phytoremediation is currently an exciting area of active research.     

Mercury detoxification with transgenic plants and other biotechnological breakthroughs for phytoremediation

Summary Phytoremediation, or the use of plants for removal and detoxification of environmental pollutants, has garnered great attention in recent years. This heightened interest is both scientifically, due the fascinating processes utilized by plants for tolerance and removal of harmful compounds, and commercially, as plants represent a more environmentally compatible and less expensive method of site remediation compared to standard approaches. The majority of phytoremediation studies have been with naturally occurring plant species after empirical discovery of their exceptional abilities for such applications. This has led to a growing body of literature and wider acceptance for plants in many aspects of environmental rehabilitation. However, this has occurred with little understanding of their basic biological mechanisms of action or investigation of alternative strategies for enhancing the capabilities of these extraordinary plants. Better understanding of plant physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology in response to specific contaminants is critical for optimization and advancement of phytoremediation. By applying the tools of biotechnology, the potential for plants as an aggressive method of environmental decontamination may be realized. This paper will serve as an introduction to the first Symposium assembled exclusively to review the use of molecular genetic and biotechnological methods for improvement of plants for phytoremediation. After a brief review of the other invited speakers' works (with more extensive papers following), the pioneering work using bacterial genes expressed in plants for removal of mercurial compounds will be surveyed.     

Secretion and folding of human growth hormone in Escherichia coli

Abstract

Phytoremediation is the use of plants for the treatment of environmental pollution, including chlorinated organics. although conceptually very attractive, removal and biodegradation of chlorinated pollutants by plants is a rather slow and inefficient process resulting in incomplete treatment and potential release of toxic metabolites into the environment. In order to overcome inherent limitations of plant metabolic capabilities, plants have been genetically modified, following a strategy similar to the development of transgenic crops: genes from bacteria, fungi, and mammals involved in the metabolism of organic contaminants, such as cytochrome p-450 and glutathione substrate catabolic genes, natural or engineered, for the simultaneous remediation of a range of pollutants, such as usually found in contaminated sites, e.g., chlorinated solvent, metals, and nitroaromatics. In addition, biodegradation of many xenobiotics are catalyzed by similar, broad-substrate enzymes, such as cytochrome P-450 monoxygenases, glutathione S-transferases, and fungal peroxidases, that can potentially be used for the treatment of multiple pollutants. Moreover, the introduction of multiple transgenes involved in different phases of the metabolism of xenobiotics in plants, i.e., uptake by roots and the different phases of the green liver model, would allow enhancing both the removal and metabolism of several toxic compounds and could therefore help overcome a major limitation inherent to phytoremediation, i.e., the threat that accumulated toxic compounds would volatilize or otherwise contaminate the food chain. An important barrier to the application of transgenic plants for bioremediation in the field is associated with the true or perceived risk of horizontal gene transfer to related wild or cultivated plants. Therefore, it is likely that the next generation of transgenic plants will involve systems preventing such a transfer, for instance by the introduction of transgenes into chloroplastic DNA or the use of conditional lethality genes (Davison, 2005). Since bacteria naturally exchange plasmids via conjugation, endophytes that gain genes involved in pollutant degradation might not be considered ‘genetically modified’ and may be subject to fewer restrictions in usage.     

Phytoremediation—A Novel and Promising Approach for Environmental Clean-up

ABSTRACT

Phytoremediation is an eco friendly approach for remediation of contaminated soil and water using plants. Phytoremediation is comprised of two components, one by the root colonizing microbes and the other by plants themselves, which degrade the toxic compounds to further non-toxic metabolites. Various compounds, viz. organic compounds, xenobiotics, pesticides and heavy metals, are among the contaminants that can be effectively remediated by plants. Plant cell cultures, hairy roots and algae have been studied for their ability to degrade a number of contaminants. They exhibit various enzymatic activities for degradation of xenobiotics, viz. dehalogenation, denitrification leading to breakdown of complex compounds to simple and non-toxic products. Plants and algae also have the ability to hyper accumulate various heavy metals by the action of phytochelatins and metallothioneins forming complexes with heavy metals and translocate them into vacuoles. Molecular cloning and expression of heavy metal accumulator genes and xenobiotic degrading enzyme coding genes resulted in enhanced remediation rates, which will be helpful in making the process for large-scale application to remediate vast areas of contaminated soils. A few companies worldwide are also working on this aspect of bioremediation, mainly by transgenic plants to replace expensive physical or chemical remediation techniques. Selection and testing multiple hyperaccumulator plants, protein engineering of phytochelatin and membrane transporter genes and their expression would enhance the rate of phytoremediation, making this process a successful one for bioremediation of environmental contamination. Recent years have seen major investments in the R&D, which have also resulted in competition of filing patents by several companies for economic gains. The details of science & technology related to phytoremediation have been discussed with a focus on future trends and prospects of global relevance.     

重金属污染的转基因植物修复——原理与应用

污染环境的植物修复技术具有成本低、不造成二次污染等优点。从自然界中寻找用于污染环境修复的超富积植物不仅难度大 ,而且受生物量、生长周期以及地理环境等因素的限制。近几年迅速发展起来的通过转基因植物进行污染环境的修复技术显示了广阔的应用前景。外源基因在植物的高效表达可以提高植物吸收、运输、降解污染物的能力以及修复的效率 ,并可以作为研究不同污染物修复机理的实验系统。以转基因植物修复几种主要的重金属污染为例 ,介绍了转基因植物修复的原理、现状及存在问题 ,并探讨了提高转基因植物修复效率的一些方法 。     

根际圈在污染土壤修复中的作用与机理分析

根际圈以植物根系为中心聚集了大量的生命物质及其分泌物,构成了极为独特的“生态修复单元”。本文叙述了根在根际圈污染土壤修复中的生理生态作用,富集、固定重金属,吸收、降解有机污染物等功能;菌根真菌对根际圈内重金属的吸收、屏障及螯合作用,对有机污染物的降解作用;根际圈内细菌对重金属的吸附与固定,对有机污染物的降解作用以及根际圈真菌和细菌的联合修复作用等,同时对可能存在的机理进行了分析,认为根际圈对污染土壤的修复作用是植物修复的重要组成部分和主要理论基础之一,并指出利用重金属超富集植物修复重金属污染土壤具有广阔的应用前景;筛选对水溶性有机污染物高吸收富集及其根 发泌能力强的特异植物,同时接种利于有机污染物降解的专性或非专性真菌和细菌可能会成为有机污染土壤植物修复研究的重要方向之一。     

Phase I xenobiotic metabolic systems in plants

Phytoremediation uses living higher plants for the removal and biochemical decomposition of environmental pollutants. In this paper Phase I metabolic pathways in the biotransformation reactions of organic pollutants in plants are reviewed. These reactions result in the introduction of functional groups in the xenobiotic molecule or the exposure of preexisting functional groups and lead to the formation of more polar, more water-soluble, chemically more reactive and sometimes biologically more active derivatives. Phase I type reactions are most important in the phytoremediation of hydrophobic, chemically stable organic pollutants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and (poly)chlorinated aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Although Phase I reactions involve a wide range of chemical transformations from hydrolysis to reduction, oxidative processes catalyzed by cytochrome P450 containing monooxygenases are the most important. Transgenic plants with tailored Phase I enzymatic activities may play major roles in the removal of environmentally stable organic pollutants from contaminated fields.