Toxicity and degradation of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene in transgenic Arabidopsis expressing Citrobacter freundii nitroreductase

Abstract The degradation of organic pollutants in plants involves uptake and diffusion through the roots, trunk or leaves, transformation, accumulation and/or volatilization of soil- and aqueous-phase contaminants. 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), the most widely used explosive, is toxic to a number of photosynthetic organisms, poses hazards to human health and pollutes the environment because it is recalcitrant to degradation. In this study, we investigated the nitroreductase gene from Citrobacter freundii in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Transgenic plants showed a promising ability to tolerate, take up and detoxify TNT. Our results suggest that transgenic plants show higher potential for removing and transformation of TNT. The expression of nitroreductase in Arabidopsis could be useful for phytoremediation and could be explored for the effective cleanup of TNT-contaminated sites.