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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2006, p. 1129-1134, Vol. 72, No. 2
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.2.1129-1134.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Engineering Plant-Microbe Symbiosis for Rhizoremediation of Heavy Metals

Cindy H. Wu,1,2 Thomas K. Wood,3,{dagger} Ashok Mulchandani,1 and Wilfred Chen1*

Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering,1 Environmental Toxicology Program, University of California, Riverside, California 92521,2 Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269-322213

Received 13 September 2005/ Accepted 16 November 2005

The use of plants for rehabilitation of heavy-metal-contaminated environments is an emerging area of interest because it provides an ecologically sound and safe method for restoration and remediation. Although a number of plant species are capable of hyperaccumulation of heavy metals, the technology is not applicable for remediating sites with multiple contaminants. A clever solution is to combine the advantages of microbe-plant symbiosis within the plant rhizosphere into an effective cleanup technology. We demonstrated that expression of a metal-binding peptide (EC20) in a rhizobacterium, Pseudomonas putida 06909, not only improved cadmium binding but also alleviated the cellular toxicity of cadmium. More importantly, inoculation of sunflower roots with the engineered rhizobacterium resulted in a marked decrease in cadmium phytotoxicity and a 40% increase in cadmium accumulation in the plant root. Owing to the significantly improved growth characteristics of both the rhizobacterium and plant, the use of EC20-expressing P. putida endowed with organic-degrading capabilities may be a promising strategy to remediate mixed organic-metal-contaminated sites.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521. Phone: (951) 827-2473. Fax: (951) 827-5696. E-mail: Wilfred{at}engr.ucr.edu.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2006, p. 1129-1134, Vol. 72, No. 2
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.2.1129-1134.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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