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Transformation of pWWO in Rhizobium leguminosarum DPT to Engineer Toluene Degrading Ability for Rhizoremediation

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Abstract

Rhizoremediation of organic xenobiotics is based on interactions between plants and their associated micro-organisms. The present work was designed to engineer a bacterial system having toluene degradation ability along with plant growth promoting characteristics for effective rhizoremediation. pWWO harboring the genes responsible for toluene breakdown was isolated from Pseudomonas putida MTCC 979 and successfully transformed in Rhizobium DPT. This resulted in a bacterial strain (DPTT) which had the ability to degrade toluene as well as enhance growth of host plant. The frequency of transformation was recorded 5.7 × 10−6. DPT produced IAA, siderophore, chitinase, HCN, ACC deaminase, solubilized inorganic phosphate, fixed atmospheric nitrogen and inhibited the growth of Fusarium oxysporum and Macrophomina phaseolina in vitro. During pot assay, 50 ppm toluene in soil was found to inhibit the germination of Cajanus cajan seeds. However when the seeds bacterized with toluene degrading P. putida or R. leguminosarum DPT were sown in pots, again no germination was observed. Non-bacterized as well as bacterized seeds germinated successfully in toluene free soil as control. The results forced for an alternative mode of application of bacteria for rhizoremediation purpose. Hence bacterial suspension was mixed with soil having 50 ppm of toluene. Germination index in DPT treated soil was 100% while in P. putida it was 50%. Untreated soil with toluene restricted the seeds to germinate.

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Acknowledgments

The research group is grateful to the Management of S.B.S.P.G.I. for providing necessary facilities to execute this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, S.B.S.P.G. Institute of Biomedical Sciences and Research, Balawala, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248161, India

    Garima Goel, Anchal Sood & Sandeep Bisht

  2. Department of Microbiology, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, 788011, India

    Piyush Pandey

  3. Department of Botany and Microbiology, Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, 249404, India

    D. K. Maheshwari

  4. Department of Life Sciences and Bioinformatics, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, 788011, India

    G. D. Sharma

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  1. Garima Goel
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  2. Piyush Pandey
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  3. Anchal Sood
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  4. Sandeep Bisht
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  5. D. K. Maheshwari
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  6. G. D. Sharma
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Correspondence to Piyush Pandey.

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Goel, G., Pandey, P., Sood, A. et al. Transformation of pWWO in Rhizobium leguminosarum DPT to Engineer Toluene Degrading Ability for Rhizoremediation. Indian J Microbiol 52, 197–202 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12088-011-0242-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12088-011-0242-y

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