Scientists used plants to discover a way to potentially clear explosive-related contamination from large areas of land.
A team of researchers gained insight into the mechanism of TNT toxicity in plants and believe these findings could help combat the extensive global pollution associated with explosives, the University of York reported.
TNT has been shown to have a major impact on the biodiversity of the soil it contaminates and can remain in the roots of plants where it negatively impacts their growth. The recent findings revealed this occurs when the key plant enzyme MDHAR6 reacts with TNT to create a superoxide that is damaging to cells.
The study revealed mutant plants that did not have the enzyme responsible for stress protection had increased TNT tolerance. Planting explosive-contaminated areas with plants possessing an altered MDHAR6 enzyme that makes them resistant to TNT could allow these barren regions to be revegitated.
"There is a lot of interest in natural mechanisms for the removal of recalcitrant toxic chemicals from the biosphere and because of the scale of explosives pollution, particularly on military training ranges, the remediation of polluted land and water as a result of military activity is a pressing global issue," said lead researcher Neil Bruce.
The findings also suggest a new type of herbicide could be used in rotation with other commonly used herbicides to help prevent herbicide resistance. Since MDHAR6 is plant specific, compounds that react with it in the same way as TNT but degrade quickly could have sustainable herbicide potential.
"This is an important additional finding as it is an increasing concern that although herbicide resistance has been increasing steadily since the 1970s, no new herbicide mode of action has been commercialized since the 1980s," Bruce concluded.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Science.
