Phytoremediation of Cadmium in Chloroplast Transgenic Plants

Phytoremediation is protecting the environment in an economical, safe and efficient way and has great advantages for large-scale clean-up of contaminated sites. Lifeasible has successfully developed a variety of reliable and economical solutions for phytoremediation to improve chloroplast engineering in the environment. Our engineers specialize in transgenic phytoremediation solutions for cadmium pollution using chloroplast transformation methods.

Introduction

Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic metal to living organisms and humans. The development of modern agriculture and industry eventually led to higher concentrations of Cd in agricultural soils, and Cd-accumulating plants showed decreased growth and productivity. In addition, cadmium toxicity impairs human physiology in various ways, such as cadmium-contaminated water and food. Avoiding and reducing Cd contamination of soil is one of the most serious global challenges. Biological, chemical, and physical methods have been widely used to remediate heavy metal contaminants in soil, but are limited by mechanical constraints, logistical issues, time, and cost. Today, science offers us new opportunities to use plants to extract toxic elements from the soil through phytoremediation. The ability of plants to absorb, transport and transform heavy metals and limit their toxicity can be significantly enhanced through genetic engineering.

Fig. 1. Cadmium (Cd) absorption, transportation, accumulation, and toxicity in plant species. (Raza A, et al., 2020)

Solutions

Higher cadmium toxicity can inhibit plant growth and cause plant necrosis, and cadmium usually affects plants by inhibiting carbon fixation and reducing chlorophyll content and photosynthetic activity. The development of chloroplast-based cadmium phytoremediation technology has received more and more attention. Lifeasible has successfully applied chloroplast transformation technology to engineer the chloroplast genome to provide additional resistance and enhance its ability to detoxify metallic cadmium.

Our goal is to help customers improve the ability of transgenic plants to remediate cadmium-contaminated soils, including transport and accumulation of Cd phytoremediation within their roots, shoots, leaves, and vacuoles. Here, the restoration strategies for cadmium in chloroplast transgenic plants that we can provide mainly include:

(1) Increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes and reactive oxygen species scavengers is a popular method of genetic transformation. Our engineers stimulated the plant antioxidant system under cadmium treatment to improve cadmium phytoremediation properties by transforming the tobacco chloroplast genome with three genes encoding antioxidant enzymes, including dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR), glutathione S- transferase (GST) and glutathione reductase (GR).

(2) BrMT1 encoding Brassica type 1 metallothionein is a good candidate gene. Our engineers successfully targeted this gene to the Arabidopsis chloroplast, and its overexpression in the chloroplast or cytosol allowed efficient detoxification of cadmium in transplastid plants.

Attractive Advantages of Our Solutions

• This is a safe, environmentally friendly and cost-effective method of remediation of toxic cadmium.
• Phytoremediation of Cd-contaminated sites by hyperaccumulators.
• Plants develop with multiple genetic engineering programs, such as enhanced metal uptake, metal transport, cadmium accumulation, and overall cadmium tolerance.
• Achieving the identification of specific genes in some promising species through genetic engineering tools and the transfer of those genes to other species.
• Soil cleanup can be promoted for sustainable environmental protection.

Lifeasible's goal is to provide customers around the world with fully customized chloroplast engineered solutions for phytoremediation of cadmium in chloroplast transgenic plants. Please contact us to discuss further details to ensure your next success.

References

1. Haider F U, Liqun C, Coulter J A, et al. (2021) Cadmium toxicity in plants: Impacts and remediation strategies[J]. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety. 211: 111887.
2. Raza A, Habib M, Kakavand SN, et al. (2020) Phytoremediation of Cadmium: Physiological, Biochemical, and Molecular Mechanisms. Biology (Basel). 9(7):177.