Molecular Approaches to Bioremediation
Event details
| Date | 23.02.2009 |
| Hour | 16:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Leigh Ackland, Deakin University, Australia |
| Location |
GR B 30
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Widespread heavy metal pollution in China and other countries is a severe threat and has resulted health problems and displacement of farmers from their land. There is a need to develop inexpensive, high-efficiency and environmentally-friendly techniques to remediate contaminated soil and water. Plant-based technologies are potential tools for remediation, however more knowledge is required to understanding the underlying cellular mechanisms involved. Deakin University, Australia is collaborating with the Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China on a project funded by the International Science Linkage scheme. This involves field trials on cadmium-contaminated soils in China in conjunction with laboratory studies in Australia to develop plants for extracting metals from soils. The aims of the Australian team are firstly to establish the identity of cellular transporters for zinc and cadmium, that are present in hyper-accumulating plants, secondly, to confirm the role of these transporters in heavy metal accumulation and thirdly to develop genetic tests that can be used to indicate the capacity of different plants to accumulate heavy metals. Several important families of transporters for zinc and cadmium including solute carrier 39 (SLC39), solute carrier 30 (SLC30), ABC transporters and the ATPases are found across many different organisms. Approaches to identify heavy metal transporter genes and proteins include quantitative PCR, comparative genomics and comparative proteomics. We are using Brassica rapa and Solanum nigrum as candidate plants. Using real time PCR we have identified two genes, MTP1, a member of the SLC30 family and Nramp, that are expressed in both roots and shoots of these plants. We have measured the changes in expression of the genes following exposure of plants to zinc and cadmium concentrations and correlated this with the levels of zinc and cadmium accumulated in the shoots and roots. To identify unknown transporters that may be involved in heavy metal hyper-accumulation, we are using differential gene expression and proteomics. These techniques provide information about the relative changes in RNA and proteins in response to treatment of plants with zinc and cadmium. In these ways we hope to provide a greater understanding of how molecular transporters participate in hyper-accumulation or resistance of plants to heavy metals.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Contact
- A. Berne