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Phytodetoxification of TNT by transplastomic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) expressing a bacterial nitroreductase

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Abstract

Key message

Expression of the bacterial nitroreductase gene, nfsI, in tobacco plastids conferred the ability to detoxify TNT.

Abstract

The toxic pollutant 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) is recalcitrant to degradation in the environment. Phytoremediation is a potentially low cost remediation technique that could be applied to soil contaminated with TNT; however, progress is hindered by the phytotoxicity of this compound. Previous studies have demonstrated that plants transformed with the bacterial nitroreductase gene, nfsI have increased ability to tolerate and detoxify TNT. It has been proposed that plants engineered to express nfsI could be used to remediate TNT on military ranges, but this could require steps to mitigate transgene flow to wild populations. To address this, we have developed nfsI transplastomic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) to reduce pollen-borne transgene flow. Here we have shown that when grown on solid or liquid media, the transplastomic tobacco expressing nfsI were significantly more tolerant to TNT, produced increased biomass and removed more TNT from the media than untransformed plants. Additionally, transplastomic plants expressing nfsI regenerated with high efficiency when grown on medium containing TNT, suggesting that nfsI and TNT could together be used to provide a selectable screen for plastid transformation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by US DoD SERDP ER-1498 and ESTCP-201436.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Box 355014, Seattle, WA, 98195-5014, USA

    Long Zhang & Stuart E. Strand

  2. CNAP, Department of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK

    Elizabeth L. Rylott & Neil C. Bruce

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  1. Long Zhang
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  2. Elizabeth L. Rylott
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  3. Neil C. Bruce
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  4. Stuart E. Strand
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Contributions

LZ wrote the paper, performed the benchwork, and planned the experiments. ELR helped prepare the experimental materials and helped write the manuscript. NCB helped prepare the experimental materials and helped write the manuscript. SES supervised the work, planned the experiments and helped write the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Stuart E. Strand.

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Zhang, L., Rylott, E.L., Bruce, N.C. et al. Phytodetoxification of TNT by transplastomic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) expressing a bacterial nitroreductase. Plant Mol Biol 95, 99–109 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-017-0639-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-017-0639-z

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