Plant Physiol. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Plant Physiology Preview
Published on May 8, 2008; 10.1104/pp.108.119008

OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE
This Article
Free via Open Access: OA
Right arrow Full Text (Plant Physiology Preview (PDF))
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
147/3/1192    most recent
pp.108.119008v3
pp.108.119008v2
pp.108.119008v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mena Benitez, G. L.
Right arrow Articles by Bruce, N. C.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mena Benitez, G. L.
Right arrow Articles by Bruce, N. C.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Mena Benitez, G. L.
Right arrow Articles by Bruce, N. C.

Received March 12, 2008
Accepted April 29, 2008

Engineering a Catabolic Pathway in Plants for the Degradation of 1,2-Dichloroethane

Gilda L. Mena Benitez , Fernando Gandia-Herrero , Stuart Graham , Tony R. Larson , Simon J. McQueen-Mason , Christopher E. French , Elizabeth L. Rylott , and Neil C. Bruce *

CNAP, Department of Biology, University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW, UK; Institute of Structural & Molecular Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JR, UK

* Corresponding author; email: ncb5{at}york.ac.uk.

Plants are increasingly being employed to clean up environmental pollutants such as heavy metals; however, a major limitation of phytoremediation is the inability of plants to mineralize most organic pollutants. A key component of organic pollutants is halogenated aliphatic compounds which include 1,2-dichloroethane. Although plants lack the enzymatic activity required to metabolise this compound, two bacterial enzymes, haloalkane dehalogenase (DhlA) and haloacid dehalogenase (DhlB) from the bacterium Xanthobacter autotrophicus GJ10, have the ability to dehalogenate a range of halogenated aliphatics including 1,2-dichloroethane. We have engineered the dhlA and dhlB genes into Nicotiana tabacum cv Xanthi (tobacco) plants, and used 1,2-dichlorethane as a model substrate to demonstrate the ability of the transgenic tobacco to remediate a range of halogenated, aliphatic hydrocarbons. DhlA converts 1,2-dichloroethane to 2-chloroethanol, which is then metabolised to the phytotoxic 2-chloroacetaldehyde then chloroacetic acid by endogenous plant alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase activities respectively. Chloroacetic acid is dehalogenated by DhlB to produce the glyoxylate cycle intermediate glycolate. Plants expressing dhlA only, produced phytotoxic levels of chlorinated intermediates and died, whilst plants expressing dhlA together with dhlB thrived at levels of 1,2-dichloroethane that were toxic to dhlA-expressing plants. This represents a significant advance in the development of a low cost, phytoremediation approach towards the clean-up of halogenated organic pollutants from contaminated soil and groundwater.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
ASPB Publications PLANT PHYSIOLOGY THE PLANT CELL
Copyright © 2008 by the American Society of Plant Biologists