Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
4333 BROOKLYN AVE NE
SEATTLE,WA 98195
Performing Department
School Administration
Non Technical Summary
The explosives RDX and TNT are widespread contaminants at DOD training ranges. TNT and RDX, in common with most explosive compounds, are toxic, mutagenic and highly energetic, they have a serious impact on the environment, and threaten human health. These two explosives are widely used in combination and are frequently found as co-contaminants on military training ranges. RDX is of particular concern since it is highly mobile in surface run-off water and migrates rapidly through soils. The mobility of RDX has resulted in plumes of groundwater contamination at training ranges, as observed at the Massachusetts Military Reservation. The aim of this project is to engineer transgenic plants to contain and degrade explosives on training ranges.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
We propose to engineer transgenic grasses to contain and degrade RDX in the root zone of explosives contaminated soil. To achieve this goal we will investigate the expression in plants of a novel RDX degrading cytochrome P450 gene xplA. This enzyme is known to degrade RDX to harmless metabolites. Since munitions often comprise both RDX and TNT, it will also be necessary to engineer resistance to TNT, as this explosive is highly toxic to plant systems.
Project Methods
Our approach will build upon the success of our current SERDP project and pulls together our unique collection of bacterial genes that encode explosives degrading enzymes and our expertise in engineering robust plant species for phytoremediation applications. The focus of the project will be on the engineering of transgenic grasses to take up and degrade RDX on training ranges. RDX and TNT are common co-contaminants, however, unlike RDX, TNT is highly phytotoxic. It will therefore be advantageous to engineer TNT resistance into the RDX degrading transgenic plant lines. The RDX degrading P450 enzyme XplA from Rhodococcus rhodochrous strain 11Y will be expressed in a variety of grasses that are widely used for land management on training ranges.