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Genetic Engineering of Plants to Enhance Selenium Phytoremediation

2002; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 21; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0735-260291044368

1549-7836

Antje Berken, Maria M. Mulholland, Danika L. LeDuc, Norman Terry,

Nitrogen and Sulfur Effects on Brassica

Referee: Dr. Dean A. Martens, USDAARS Southwest Watershed, Research Center, 200 E. Allen Road, Tucson, AZ 85719 Phytoremediation is the use of plants to remove, contain, or render harmless environmental pollutants. In recent years, much attention has been focused on the improvement of such technologies for this purpose. In this review, we introduce selenium phytoremediation and describe the attempts made to enhance it through genetic engineering. Initial efforts have taken advantage of the knowledge of the enzymatic pathways for selenium assimilation and volatilization, especially by overexpressing genes of rate-limiting enzymes in plants. Another possible approach is to introduce additional metabolic pathways from selenium hyperaccumulators or organisms other than plants that can help detoxify selenium compounds. In this way the capacity of plants to take up, accumulate, and volatilize compounds can be increased beyond that of any naturally occurring plant species. Here we report on the progress that has been made in overexpressing potentially important enzymes involved in the selenium/sulfur pathways and discuss possible future directions in the enhancement of phytoremediation through genetic engineering.