Petroleum exploitation in oilfields, especially drilling, generates an oily sludge mixed with hydrocarbons and mineral solids. This oily sludge is sometimes treated by bioremediation and phytoremediation. This investigation established that landfarmed oil sludge provided adequate soil conditions to grow jack beans (Canavalia ensiformis) that in turn rhizoand phytoremediated residual aliphatic a...

From a number of wild plant species growing on soils highly contaminated by heavy metals in Eastern Spain, Nicotiana glauca R. Graham (shrub tobacco) was selected for biotechnological modification, because it showed the most appropriate properties for phytoremediation. This plant has a wide geographic distribution, is fast-growing with a high biomass, and is repulsive to herbivores. Following A...

To further enhance the efficiency and potential of plants for phytoremediation of mercury pollution, a genetically engineered tobacco to simultaneously express mercury transporter, mercury transporter (MerT) and mercury chelator, polyphosphate (polyP) was constructed by integrating bacterial merT gene in polyphosphate kinase gene (ppk)-transgenic tobacco, and its ability to phytoremediate mercu...

Although stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) has been shown to reduce HM (heavy metal) content in soil, its wider phytoremediation potential has been neglected. Urtica dioica was cultivated in soils contaminated with HMs or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). After four months, up to 33% of the less chlorinated biphenyls and 8% of HMs (Zn, Pb, Cd) had been removed. Bacteria were isolated from the pla...

In 2003, Carmina Gisbert and her research team produced a tobacco plant that could remove more lead from soil than normal tobacco plants. To do so, they inserted a gene from wheat plants that produces phytochelatin synthase into a shrub tobacco plant (Nicotiana glauca [2]) to increase N. glauca's absorption and tolerance of toxic metals, particularly lead. Gisbert and her team aimed to genetica...

Phytoremediation potentials of four poplar lines, Populus nigra (N-SL clone), Populus canescens, and two transgenic P. canescens clones were investigated using in vitro leaf discs cultures. The transgenic poplars overexpressed a bacterial gene encoding gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase in the cytosol (11ggs) or in the chlopoplasts (6LgI), and therefore, they contained an elevated level of gluta...

Arsenic (As) toxicity in soil and water is an increasing menace around the globe. Its concentration both in soil and environment is due to natural and anthropogenic activities. Rising arsenic concentrations in groundwater is alarming due to the health risks to plants, animals, and human beings. Anthropogenic As contamination of soil may result from mining, milling, and smelting of copper, lead,...

Worldwide, contamination of soil and ground water is a severe problem. The negative effects of pollutants on the environment and on human health are diverse and depend on the nature of the pollution. The search for alternative methods for excavation and incineration to clean polluted sites resulted in the application of bioremediation techniques. In this review, we describe some generally accep...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which are present in most natural environments, have demonstrated capacity to promote biodegradation of organic pollutants in the greenhouse. However, it is not certain whether AMF can spontaneously establish in phytoremediation systems constructed to decontaminate groundwater, because of the unusual conditions during the construction and operation of such sy...