Phytoremediation of selenium using transgenic plants

Pilon-Smits, Elizabeth A. H.; LeDuc, Danika L.

doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2009.02.001

Cited by 200 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Se is essential for bacteria but not for higher plants, although Se has been suggested to be crucial for Sehyperaccumulator plants (Pilon-Smits and LeDuc, 2009). While bacteria contain the specific SeCys insertion machinery for controlled incorporation of SeCys into selenoproteins, the higher plants are believed to have lost such machinery during evolution and only nonspecifically incorporate selenoamino acids into proteins .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Plants appear to be a promising solution for both sides of the Se problem (Pilon-Smits and LeDuc, 2009). Some crops have the ability to accumulate Se in healthbeneficial chemical forms (Whanger, 2002;Dumont et al, 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several sulfur metabolic pathway enzymes have been evaluated for their roles in stimulating Se volatilization (Pilon-Smits and LeDuc, 2009). Cystathionineg-synthase is believed to be involved in the formation of SeMet.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Involvement of a Broccoli COQ5 Methyltransferase in the Production of Volatile Selenium Compounds

et al. 2009

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Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient for animals and humans but becomes toxic at high dosage. Biologically based Se volatilization, which converts Se into volatile compounds, provides an important means for cleanup of Se-polluted environments. To identify novel genes whose products are involved in Se volatilization from plants, a broccoli (Brassica oleracea var italica) cDNA encoding COQ5 methyltransferase (BoCOQ5-2) in the ubiquinone biosynthetic pathway was isolated. Its function was authenticated by complementing a yeast coq5 mutant and by detecting increased cellular ubiquinone levels in the BoCOQ5-2-transformed bacteria. BoCOQ5-2 was found to promote Se volatilization in both bacteria and transgenic Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants. Bacteria expressing BoCOQ5-2 produced an over 160-fold increase in volatile Se compounds when they were exposed to selenate. Consequently, the BoCOQ5-2-transformed bacteria had dramatically enhanced tolerance to selenate and a reduced level of Se accumulation. Transgenic Arabidopsis expressing BoCOQ5-2 volatilized three times more Se than the vector-only control plants when treated with selenite and exhibited an increased tolerance to Se. In addition, the BoCOQ5-2 transgenic plants suppressed the generation of reactive oxygen species induced by selenite. BoCOQ5-2 represents, to our knowledge, the first plant enzyme that is not known to be directly involved in sulfur/Se metabolism yet was found to mediate Se volatilization. This discovery opens up new prospects regarding our understanding of the complete metabolism of Se and may lead to ways to modify Se-accumulator plants with increased efficiency for phytoremediation of Se-contaminated environments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Involvement of a Broccoli COQ5 Methyltransferase in the Production of Volatile Selenium Compounds

et al. 2009

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“…Researches have indicated that plants have the genetic potential to remove many toxic metals from the contaminated soil-water ecosystem (Lyyra et al 2007;Memon and Schroder 2009;Pilon-Smits 2005;Pilon-Smits and LeDuc 2009;Mani et al 2012a). However, the decontamination of polluted land through the application of immobilized microbial enzymes and using resistant microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, algae and vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae (Purakayastha and Chhonker 2001) is ecologically and economically sound.…”

Section: Remediation Of Heavy Metalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotechnological advances in bioremediation of heavy metals contaminated ecosystems: an overview with special reference to phytoremediation

Mani

Kumar

2013

Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol.

513

137

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The ability of heavy metals bioaccumulation to cause toxicity in biological systems-human, animals, microorganisms and plants-is an important issue for environmental health and safety. Recent biotechnological approaches for bioremediation include biomineralization (mineral synthesis by living organisms or biomaterials), biosorption (dead microbial and renewable agricultural biomass), phytostabilization (immobilization in plant roots), hyperaccumulation (exceptional metal concentration in plant shoots), dendroremediation (growing trees in polluted soils), biostimulation (stimulating living microbial population), rhizoremediation (plant and microbe), mycoremediation (stimulating living fungi/mycelial ultrafiltration), cyanoremediation (stimulating algal mass for remediation) and genoremediation (stimulating gene for remediation process). The adequate restoration of the environment requires cooperation, integration and assimilation of such biotechnological advances along with traditional and ethical wisdom to unravel the mystery of nature in the emerging field of bioremediation. This review highlights better understanding of the problems associated with the toxicity of heavy metals to the contaminated ecosystems and their viable, sustainable and eco-friendly bioremediation technologies, especially the mechanisms of phytoremediation of heavy metals along with some case studies in India and abroad. However, the challenges (biosafety assessment and genetic pollution) involved in adopting the new initiatives for cleaning-up the heavy metals-contaminated ecosystems from both ecological and greener point of view must not be ignored.

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“…To be absorbed, Se 6+ requires energy, while absorption of Se 4+ is an initiative process [31]. The capacity of Se absorbing is largely different in plants, which are often divided into Se hyper-accumulated plants (≥ 1000 μg/g), Se-enriched plants (50-100 μg/g) and non-Se accumulated plants (≤ 50 μg/g) [32,33].…”

Section: Plant Genetic Source For Se Accumulating/ Hyperaccumulatingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in the study of genetic enrichment of selenium in plants

Guo¹,

Lang²,

Ch³

et al. 2013

Clon Transgen

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Selenium (Se) is a micronutrient essential for human and animal health. Due to the unbalanced distribution of Se resources in the world, Se deficiency is regarded as a major human health problem. Insufficient ingestion of Se in human caused a series of disease including Keshan disease and Kashin-Beck's disease. While some parts of the world was Se poisoning due to the Se ores on geological stratification or Se pollution. The using Se-enriched and/or hyperaccumulated green plants to treat these problems has acquired more and more attention worldwide from last decade. This paper describes current advances in the efforts of searching Se enriched plant genetic resources, clarifying the Se metabolism and accumulation mechanism in plants, and cloning key genes responsible for Se accumulation or hyper-accumulation and their transformation in plants.

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Phytoremediation of selenium using transgenic plants

Cited by 200 publications

References 40 publications

Involvement of a Broccoli COQ5 Methyltransferase in the Production of Volatile Selenium Compounds

Involvement of a Broccoli COQ5 Methyltransferase in the Production of Volatile Selenium Compounds

Biotechnological advances in bioremediation of heavy metals contaminated ecosystems: an overview with special reference to phytoremediation

Advances in the study of genetic enrichment of selenium in plants

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