Progress 10/01/07 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Target Audience: Researchers, and engineers attempting to clean up contaminants. Effort: Research to determine in chemical detail how plant roots degrade dyes. Target Audience: students of grades 8-12 and in college Effort: Outreach and education activities directed to students, use textile dyes as examples of how plants are able to degrade contaminants in the environment. Changes/Problems: We had hope to identify plants with altered enzyme activities in root systems. Functional redundancy if isoenzymes in the plant roots prevented us from attaining that goal. We did characterize the behavior of dye molecules in the root zone of plants and showed that dyes are degraded and irreversibly sorbed to plant roots. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? graduate student Rohit Kamat, completing dissertation now and undergraduates Joni Mengarelli and Mauri Zumalt. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results were reported as posters at several local and national meetings. One article was submitted for publication. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This was the sixth and final year of a multi-year project focused on using plants to help clean up environmental contamination. The main laboratory focus is plant roots and the enzymes secreted from or contained therein, specifically laccase and peroxidase. Plants irreversibly bind or degrade some diazo dyes that are banned (by the US and EU) because degradation in the environment yields intermediates that are carcinogenic. The dyes are still widely used in many parts of the world Laccase and peroxidase enzymes in/on plant roots degrade two simple model diazo dyes, methyl red and methyl orange. Addition of a mediator (free radical carrier) such as hydroxybenzotriazole enhances degradation of these dyes and extends the reactivity to several other dyes, including those of other classes which may also be carcinogens (e.g. malachite green which is widely used in some countries but banned in the U.S. for food uses). Phenol red, also implicated as a carcinogen, has been developed as a model for this class of dyes (triphenylmethanes). We have tested almost all of ~90 available Ti insertion mutants of arabidopsis, in both the laccase and peroxidase genes. Thus far no striking differences in capacity have been identified in the root systems. This indicates a high functional redundancy in the plant defenses against xenobiotics. Sunflowers respond differently from arabidopsis to some dyes. For both systems, and most dyes, peroxidase, not laccase, is the main, more active enzyme. That is shown by the need to add exogenous peroxide to get high rates of degradation. Phenol red can be degraded without added peroxide, but at a rate about 50 times slower than with its addition. This indicates that the peroxidase enzymes are present at levels giving a much greater capacity for degradation of xenobiotics, than is the key chemical essential for the reaction, namely peroxide. Efforts were made to demonstrate that dyes are no longer available in the environment after reaction. Mass spectrometry and UV/visible specrophotometry confirmed their disappearance from the solution. They were also shown to be unextractable from roots with solutions that will remove non-covalently bound dyes from the same roots. No evidence was obtained for partial break-down products being released to the environment. No oxidation products were identified by mass specrometry. The root systems of plants possess enzymes that can effectively decolorize diazo and other dyes. This can potentially provide a cost-effective means to treat water from facilities such as textile dying factories. It is also indicative of the versatility of plant roots in degrading aromatic compounds in their environment.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Sathishkumar Santharum, L.C. Davis, L.E. Erickson, Biodegradation of carbon tetrachloride in simulated groundwater flow channels, Environmental Progress and Sustainable Energy (2013) doi: 10.1002/ep.11808
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
M.T. Albahttiti, H.A. Rasheed, D. Peric, L. Davis (2013) The IES Journal Part A: Civil and Structural Engineering, Assessment of wheat fibre reinforced cementitious matrix, 11 pp, http://dx.doi/10.1080/19373260.2013.795503
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Kelly Hudek, L.C. Davis, J. Ibbini, L.E.Erickson, Commercial products from algae, in Algal Biorefineries edited by R. Bajpai et al Springer, Dordrecht, pp 275-295 DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-7494-0_11
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Results were reported at several local and regional meetings. One article was submitted for publication. Another book chapter is accepted and should appear in print during 2013. PARTICIPANTS: L.C.Davis, principle investigator, Collaborators: Larry E. Erickson, Stacy L. Hutchinson, Training: graduate student Rohit Kamat, and undergraduates in student laboratories. TARGET AUDIENCES: Primarily other researchers, also engineers attempting to clean up contaminants. Some outreach and education activities use textile dyes as examples of how plants are able to degrade contaminants in the environment. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
This was the fifth year of a multi-year project focused on using plants to help clean up environmental contamination. The main laboratory focus is plant roots and the enzymes secreted from or contained therein, specifically laccase and peroxidase. Plants irreversibly bind or degrade some diazo dyes that are banned (by the EU) because degradation in the environment yields intermediates that are carcinogenic. But the dyes are still widely used in many parts of the world Laccase and peroxidase enzymes in/on plant roots degrade two simple model diazo dyes, methyl red and methyl orange. Addition of a mediator (free radical carrier) such as hydroxybenzotriazole enhances degradation of these dyes and extends the reactivity to several other dyes, including those of other classes which may also be carcinogens (e.g. malachite green which is widely used in some countries but banned in the U.S. for food uses). We have tested almost all of aproximately 90 available Ti insertion mutants of arabidopsis, in both the laccase and peroxidase genes. Thus far no striking differences in capacity have been identified in the root systems. This indicates a high functional redundancy in the plant defenses against xenobiotics. Sunflowers respond differently from arabidopsis to some dyes. For both systems, and most dyes, peroxidase, not laccase, is the active enzyme. That is shown by the need to add exogenous peroxide to get high rates of degradation. The root systems of plants possess enzymes that can effectively decolorize diazo and other dyes. This can potentially provide a cost-effective means to treat water from facilities such as textile dying factories.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Results were reported at several local and regional meetings. An article published on-line last year appeared in print early in 2011, in J. Env. Qual. Another was published in Bioremediation. PARTICIPANTS: L.C.Davis, principle investigator, Collaborators: Larry E. Erickson, Stacy L. Hutchinson, Ganga Hettiarachchi, with Westar Energy, Burns & McDonnell, Mango Remediation as companies collaborating. Training: graduate student Rohit Kamat, and undergraduates in student laboratories. TARGET AUDIENCES: Primarily other researchers, also engineers attempting to clean up contaminants. Presentations have been made to the corporate managers of our collaborating companies. Some outreach and education activities use textile dyes as examples of how plants are able to degrade contaminants in the environment. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
This was the fourth year of a multi-year project focused on using plants to help clean up environmental contamination. The main laboratory focus is plant roots and the enzymes secreted from or contained therein, specifically laccase and peroxidase. Plants irreversibly bind or degrade diazo dyes banned (by the EU) because degradation in the environment yields intermediates that are carcinogenic. But the dyes are still widely used in many parts of the world The compound ABTS was used to detect the activity of the laccase and peroxidase enzymes. Two simple model diazo dyes, methyl red and methyl orange have been studied with the use of "mediator" compounds ABTS and hydroxybenzotriazole. We have tested more than 50 (of ~90 available) Ti insertion mutants of arabidopsis, in both the laccase and peroxidase genes. Thus far no striking differences in capacity have been identified in the root systems. A published method was used to extract active enzyme(s) from intact plants which survive the treatment. The pH dependence of the mediated decolorization of blue dyes including Evans blue, trypan blue and direct blue was determined. For this system, peroxidase, not laccase, is the active enzyme. The root systems of plants possess enzymes that can effectively decolorize diazo dyes, and some other classes of dyes. This provides a cost-effective means to treat water from production facilities. Last year we began a collaboration to examine the abilities of wetlands to uptake and immobilize various elements, including selenium and boron, found in the flue gas desulfurization (FGD) water from a large coal-fired energy center. The wetland was established in late 1010 and sampling has continued through 2011. Toxicity of the FGD water was also determined in lab studies with sunflower. Efforts were continued to perfect formulas for biostimulation of anaerobic microbes to dechlorinate tetrachloroethene.
Publications
- Dokken, K.M. and Davis, L.C. (2011) Infrared Monitoring of Dinitrotoluenes in Sunflower and Maize Roots. J. Environ. Qual. 40:719-730.
- Santharam, S., Ibbini, J., Davis, L. C., and Erickson, L. E. (2011) Field Study of Biostimulation and Bioaugmentation for Remediation of Tetrachloroethene in Groundwater. REMEDIATION Spring 2011 51-68.
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Progress 01/01/10 to 12/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Results were reported at a regional ACS meeting of researchers. An article was accepted in the Journal of Environmental Quality and published on-line. It will appear in print early in 2011. Our efforts for educational uses of the research are implemented here in a teaching laboratory, and published in a laboratory manual. One student continued work toward the PhD degree this year. One undergraduate was supported for summer research. PARTICIPANTS: L.C.Davis, principle investigator, Collaborators: Larry E. Erickson, Stacy L. Hutchinson, Ganga Hettiarachchi, with Westar Energy, Mango Remediation as companies collaborating. Training: graduate student Rohit Kamat, and undergraduates in student laboratories. TARGET AUDIENCES: Primarily other researchers, also engineers attempting to clean up contaminants. Some outreach and education activities use textile dyes as examples of how plants are able to degrade contaminants in the environment. A publication on educational uses has appeared, for educators, and is incorporated into a newly published laboratory manual. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
This is the third year of a multi-year project focused on using plants to help clean up environmental contamination. The specific laboratory focus is on the role of plant roots and the enzymes secreted from or contained therein. Plants rapidly absorb and irreversibly bind or degrade certain diazo dyes commonly used in textile or other dying applications. These dyes yield banned (by the EU) intermediates during anaerobic degradation, but are still widely used in many parts of the world. Rates of dye removal and degradation were determined using intact plants of sunflower, and arabidopsis (a model organism in the cabbage family). The compound ABTS was used to detect the activity of the laccase and peroxidase enzyme activity in intact plants with and without exposure to the azo dye. We have begun a search for the actual enzyme(s) responsible for decolorizing azo dyes, using genetic strategies. For this we obtained more than 100 Ti insertion mutants of arabidopsis, in both the laccase and peroxidase genes. The root systems of plants possess enzymes that can effectively decolorize diazo dyes, and some other classes of dyes. This provides a cost-effective means to treat water from production facilities. Recently we have begun a collaboration to examine the abilities of wetlands to uptake and immobilize various metallic elements from a large coal-fired energy center. The wetland is in place and sampling will begin early in 2011.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/09 to 12/31/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Results were reported in two papers at an international meeting of researchers in phytoremediation. Related work was also presented at a conference on green energy. Our efforts for educational uses of the research are implemented here in a teaching laboratory. One student began work toward the PhD degree this year. One undergraduate was supported for summer research. PARTICIPANTS: L.C.Davis, principle investigator, Collaborators: Larry E. Erickson, Training: graduate student Rohit Kamat, and undergraduates in student laboratories TARGET AUDIENCES: Primarily other researchers, also engineers attempting to clean up contaminants. Some outreach and education activities use textile dyes as examples of how plants are able to degrade contaminants in the environment. A publication on educational uses has appeared, for educators PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
This is the second year of a multi-year project using plants as tools to help clean up environmental contamination. It is a continuation of work done under a previous project, primarily focused on the role of plant roots and the enzymes secreted from or contained therein. A new student has joined the laboratory late fall of 2008 and has been workng on textile dyes. Plants rapidly degrade certain diazo dyes commonly used in textile or other dying applications. These dyes yield banned (by the EU) intermediates during anaerobic degradation, but are still widely used in many parts of the world. Rates of dye removal and degradation were determined using intact plants of sunflower, and arabidopsis (a model organism in the cabbage family). We also tested whether a specific compound that enhances the function of one enzyme, laccase, could increase the rate of dye removal. The same compound (ABTS) was used to detect the activity of the laccase and peroxidase enzyme activity in intact plants not exposed to the azo dye. We can now search for the actual enzyme(s) responsible for decolorizing azo dyes, using genetic strategies. The root systems of plants possess enzymes that can effectively decolorize diazo dyes, and some other classes of dyes. This provides a cost-effective means to treat water from production facilities.
Publications
- Ibbini, J. H., Davis, L.C., Erickson, L.E. 2009. Phytoremediation in education: textile dye teaching experiments. Int. J. Phytoremed. 11:451-462
- Ibbini, H.H., Santharam, S., Davis, L.C. and Erickson, L.E. 2009. Laboratory and field scale bioremediation of tetrachloroethene (PCE) contaminated groundwater. International Conference and Exhibition on Green Energy & Sustainability for Arid Regions & Mediterranean Countries., access at http://www.greenenergy-jo.com/Spaper/55.pdf
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Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Results were reported at an international meeting of researchers in phytoremediation. Our efforts for educational uses of the research were given to a faculty member at another institution and also implemented here. One student completed the PhD degree this year. PARTICIPANTS: L.C.Davis, principle investigator, Collaborators: Larry E. Erickson, Training: graduate students, Jwan Ibbini and Rohit Kamat, undergraduates in student laboratories. TARGET AUDIENCES: Primarily other researchers, also engineers attempting to clean up contaminants. Some outreach and education activities use textile dyes as examples of how plants are able to degrade contaminants in the environment. A publication on educational uses is in the press, for educators. Another publication on mechanistic aspects is in preparation, for researchers. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
This is the first full year of a multi-year project using plants as tools to help clean up environmental contamination. It is a continuation of work done under a previous project, redirected to focus on the role of plant roots and the enzymes contained therein. A new student has joined the laboratory and has been workng on the new area of textile dyes in the current semester. During this year we have focused on the ability of plants, to rapidly degrade certain diazo dyes commonly used in textile or other dying applications. These dyes yield banned (by the EU) intermediates during anaerobic degradation, but are still widely used in many parts of the world Rates of dye removal and degradation were determined using intact plants of sunflower, water hyacinth and papyrus. All three species show comparable responses to dyes. We also tested whether a specific compound that enhances the function of one enzyme, laccase, could increase the rate of dye removal. It did not increase it and indeed in some cases made the dye more toxic. We can now search for the actual enzyme(s) responsible for decolorizing azo dyes, using genetic strategies. For this new area we have begun cultivation of the model system of Arabidopsis. The root systems of plants possess enzymes that can effectively decolorize diazo dyes, and some other classes of dyes. This provides a cost-effective means to treat water from production facilities.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/07 to 12/31/07
Outputs
OUTPUTS: This is the first portion of a multi-year project using plants as tools to help clean up environmental contamination, and a continuation of work done under a previous project. One graduate student, has been workng on it in the previous quarter of a year. During this last time period we have focused on one specific ability of plants, to degrade certain diazo dyes commonly used in textile or other dying applications. We screened a large number of dyes and identified several that can be effectively degraded by sunflower root systems and water hyacinth in hydroponic culture. Rates of dye removal and degradation were determined using intact plants. Then similar studies were done for select dyes using the severed roots of the same species to verify that the degradation process depends solely on contact between the root system and the water, and not upon translocation of water into the plant. We can now search for the actual enzyme that is able to decolorize azo dyes, using genetic
strategies.
PARTICIPANTS: Participants: L.C.Davis, principle investigator, Collaborators: Larry E. Erickson, Training: a graduate student, Jwan Ibbini, undergraduates in student laborotories, high school students participating in GROW project.
TARGET AUDIENCES: Primarily other researchers, also engineers attempting to clean up contaminants. Some outreach and education activities use textile dyes as examples of how plants are able to degrade contaminants in the environment.
Impacts
The root systems of plants possess enzymes that can effectively decolorize diazo dyes, and some other classes of dyes. This provides a cost-effective means to treat water from production facilities.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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