Transgenic merA and merB expression reduces mercury contamination in vegetables and grains grown in mercury-contaminated soil
- 25 July 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Plant Cell Reports
- Vol. 39 (10), 1369-1380
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-020-02570-8
Abstract
Key message Arabidopsis, tobacco, tomato and rice with merA / merB expressed reduced mercury concentration of leaves, fruits or grains. These mercury-breathing plants produce agricultural products with acceptable levels of mercury from contaminated soil. Abstract Mercury contamination in plant food products can cause serious health risks to consumers. Transgenic approaches to enhance mercury phytoremediation have been accomplished with expression of bacterial merA and merB genes to convert toxic organic mercury to less toxic elemental mercury. However, little is known whether these genes can be used to produce safe foods from plants grown on mercury-contaminated land. We have used Arabidopsis and tobacco as model plants for leafy vegetables, and tomato and rice as representative fruit and grain crops to investigate whether merA and merB expression allows for production of safe foods from mercury-contaminated soils. Our results show that grown on heavily contaminated land with mercury, merA and merB expressing transgenic plants can produce vegetables, fruits and grains safe for human and animal consumption, while the wild-type plants cannot. The merA and merB transgenic plants can also efficiently remove mercury from soil. With increasing mercury contamination problems for the agricultural land worldwide, the use of the merA and merB genes can help produce safe food from mercury-polluted land and also remediate contaminated soils.Keywords
Funding Information
- Introduction of Talents Foundation of Nanjing Agricultural University
This publication has 61 references indexed in Scilit:
- ZFN‐mediated gene targeting of the Arabidopsis protoporphyrinogen oxidase gene through Agrobacterium‐mediated floral dip transformationPlant Biotechnology Journal, 2012
- A Review on Heavy Metals (As, Pb, and Hg) Uptake by Plants through PhytoremediationInternational Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2011
- Post-transcriptional Defects of Antioxidant Selenoenzymes Cause Oxidative Stress under Methylmercury ExposureOnline Journal of Public Health Informatics, 2011
- Bioaccumulation of Methylmercury versus Inorganic Mercury in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) GrainEnvironmental Science & Technology, 2010
- Transgenic Spartina alterniflora for phytoremediationEnvironmental Geochemistry and Health, 2006
- Low dose mercury toxicity and human healthEnvironmental Toxicology and Pharmacology, 2005
- Assessment of mercury emissions inventories for the Great Lakes statesEnvironmental Research, 2004
- Organic Mercury—An Environmental Threat to the Health of Exposed Societies?Reviews on Environmental Health, 1997
- Mercury: god of Th2 cells?Clinical and Experimental Immunology, 1995
- Mortality and Survival for Minamata DiseaseInternational Journal of Epidemiology, 1985