Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants expressing bacterial γ-hexachlorocyclohexane dehydrochlorinase LinA

γ-Hexachlorocyclohexane (γ-HCH), an organochlorine insecticide of anthropogenic origin, is a persistent organic pollutant (POP) that causes environmental pollution concerns worldwide. Although many γ-HCH-degrading bacterial strains are available, inoculating them directly into γ-HCH-contaminated soil is ineffective because of the low survival rate of the exogenous bacteria. Another strategy for the bioremediation of γ-HCH involves the use of transgenic plants expressing bacterial enzyme for γ-HCH degradation through phytoremediation.

We generated transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana expressing γ-HCH dehydrochlroninase LinA from bacterium Sphingobium japonicum strain UT26. Among the transgenic Arabidopsis T2 lines, we obtained one line (A5) that expressed and accumulated LinA well. The A5-derived T3 plants showed higher tolerance to γ-HCH than the non-transformant control plants, indicating that γ-HCH is toxic for Arabidopsis thaliana and that this effect is relieved by LinA expression. The crude extract of the A5 plants showed γ-HCH degradation activity, and metabolites of γ-HCH produced by the LinA reaction were detected in the assay solution, indicating that the A5 plants accumulated the active LinA protein. In some A5 lines, the whole plant absorbed and degraded more than 99% of γ-HCH (10 ppm) in the liquid medium within 36 h.

The transgenic Arabidopsis expressing active LinA absorbed and degraded γ-HCH in the liquid medium, indicating the high potential of LinA-expressing transgenic plants for the phytoremediation of environmental γ-HCH. This study marks a crucial step toward the practical use of transgenic plants for the phytoremediation of POPs.