Min Wu, Ph.D.
University of North Dakota
Grand Forks, North Dakota 58202
Phone: 701-777-3610
Fax: 701-777-2331
Email: minwu@medicine.nodak.edu

Julia Xiaojun Zhao, Ph.D.
Phone: 701-777-3610
Fax: 701-777-2331
Email: jzhao@chem.und.edu

ARTICLE #3 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Explosive discovery on genetically engineered tobacco plant
Environmental Science & Technology

Tobacco may be bad for human health, but a new study reports that a genetically engineered tobacco plant may be very good for the environment. It shows promise for cleaning up soil contaminated with TNT, a widely used military explosive. The study is scheduled for the Aug. 15 issue of ACS Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.

Neil C. Bruce and colleagues noted that TNT contamination is a major environmental problem at many World War II sites, military training areas, and explosive manufacturing sites. In addition to being explosive, TNT is toxic and a human health threat. Researchers knew that certain soil bacteria could metabolize and change trinitrotoluene (TNT) into nontoxic compounds. But those natural bacteria exist at levels too low to detoxify TNT.

In the new study, researchers inserted a gene for a TNT-transforming bacterial enzyme into a tobacco plant. Then they tested the plants effect on TNT-contaminated soil in comparison to regular tobacco plants grown in the same soil for several weeks. The genetically modified plants significantly reduced the toxicity of the TNT-contaminated soil.

This is the first report to demonstrate that transgenic plants engineered for the phytoremediation of organic
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Contact: Michael Woods
m_woods@acs.org
202-872-4400
American Chemical Society
13-Aug-2007