title: Transgenic plants and hairy roots: exploiting the potential of plant species to remediate contaminants.
abstract: Phytoremediation has emerged as an attractive methodology to deal with environmental pollution, which is a serious worldwide problem. Although important advances have been made in this research field, there are still some drawbacks to become a widely used practice, such as the limited plant's metabolic rate and their difficulty to break down several organic compounds or to tolerate/accumulate heavy metals. However, biotechnology has opened new gateways in phytoremediation research by offering the opportunity for direct gene transfer to enhance plant capabilities for environmental cleanup. In this context, hairy roots (HRs) have emerged as an interesting model system to explore the potential of plants to remove inorganic and organic pollutants. Besides, their use in rhizoremediation studies has also been explored. In this minireview we will discuss the most recent advances using genetic engineering for enhancing phytoremediation capabilities of plants and HRs.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Department, National University of Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ibañez
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Department, National University of Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Melina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Talano
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Department, National University of Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Ornella
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ontañon
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Food and Biochemical Technology, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jachym
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Suman
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Department, National University of Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: María I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Medina
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Food and Biochemical Technology, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Macek
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Department, National University of Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina. Electronic address: eagostini@exa.unrc.edu.ar.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Agostini
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D001709:Biotechnology; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D008954:Models, Biological; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology; D058441:Rhizosphere
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants