Potential for rhizofiltration of uranium using hairy root cultures of Brassica juncea and Chenopodium amaranticolor

Hairy root cultures of Brassica juncea and Chenopodium amaranticolor were developed by genetic transformation using Agrobacterium rhizogenes. The stable, transformed root systems demonstrated a high growth rate of 1.5-3.0 g/g dry weight/day in Murashige and Skoog medium. In the present study, hairy root system was used for removal of uranium from the solution of concentration up to 5,000 microM. The results indicated that the hairy roots could remove uranium from the aqueous solution within a short period of incubation. B. juncea could take up 20-23% of uranium from the solution containing up to 5,000 microM, when calculated on g/g dry weight basis. C. amaranticolor showed a slow and steady trend in taking up uranium, with 13% uptake from the solution of 5,000 microM concentration. Root growth was not affected up to 500 microM of uranium nitrate over a period of 10 days.