Plant cell biodegradation of a xenobiotic nitrate ester, nitroglycerin

The ability of plants to metabolize the xenobiotic nitrate ester, glycerol trinitrate (GTN, nitroglycerin), was examined using cultured plant cells and plant cell extracts. Intact cells rapidly degrade GTN with the initial formation of glycerol dinitrate (GDN) and the later formation of glycerol mon...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature biotechnology 1997-02, Vol.15 (2), p.174-177
Main Authors: Goel, Akshay, Kumar, Guneet, Payne, Gregory F., Dube, Shyam K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
beta vulgaris
biodegradacion
biodegradation
Biodegradation of pollutants
Biodegradation, Environmental
Bioinformatics
Biological and medical sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology
Biomedicine
Biotechnology
Cells, Cultured
Environment and pollution
Environmental Pollutants
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects
Kinetics
Life Sciences
nitrate
nitrates
nitratos
Nitroglycerin - metabolism
Plants - metabolism
research-article
Xenobiotics - metabolism
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Summary:The ability of plants to metabolize the xenobiotic nitrate ester, glycerol trinitrate (GTN, nitroglycerin), was examined using cultured plant cells and plant cell extracts. Intact cells rapidly degrade GTN with the initial formation of glycerol dinitrate (GDN) and the later formation of glycerol mononitrate (GMN). A material balance analysis of these intermediates indicates little, if any, formation of reduced, conjugated or cell-bound carbonaceous metabolites. Cell extracts were shown to be capable of degrading GTN with the simultaneous formation of GDN in stoichiometric amounts. The intermediates observed, and the timing of their appearance, are consistent with a sequential denitration pathway that has been reported for the microbial degradation of nitrate esters. The degradative activities of plant cells are only tenfold less than those reported for bacterial GTN degradation. These results suggest that plants may serve a direct degradative function for the phytoremediation of sites contaminated by organic nitrate esters.
ISSN:1087-0156
1546-1696
DOI:10.1038/nbt0297-174