Generating novel transgenic tobacco by chloroplast transformation for sequestering of organic mercury from polluted soil.

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution is a world wide problem in environments. In phytoremediation technology, plants serve as valuable tools for extracting, sequestering, and detoxifying harmful environmental pollutants. In this study, we propose the method for remediation of soil from organic mercury pollution. We cloned organic mercurial lyase [MerB] and poly-phosphate synthesis [PPK] genes to the downstream of the psbA promoter and introduced this operon into Nicotiana tabacum chloroplast genome by homologous recombination. The engineered transgenic tobacco produces organic mercurial lyase and poly-phosphate synthetase within chroloplast lumen. This transgenic plant will convert organic mercury to inorganic mercury and accumulate inorganic mercury into chroloplast lumen by forming cherate complex with poly-phosphate. Here, we report tolerance and accumulative ability of the transgenic plant.