London, Scientists at the University of York have come up with a unique way of cleaning up land contaminated by explosives by using micro-organisms found in the soil to turn plants and trees into pollution fighting machines.

The research, by a team led by Professor Neil Bruce in the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products at the University's Department of Biology, had at first isolated a bacterial micro-organism in the soil in land contaminated by RDX that can utilise the explosives as a source of nitrogen for growth.

However, on finding that the bacteria present in the soil could not degrade the RDX quickly enough to stop the contamination of land and ground water, the York team redeployed the enzyme in the bacteria into plants, giving them the ability to biodegrade the pollutant more efficiently.

Prof Bruce said that as a part of the process the team had utilized the bacteria and put it into plants with large amounts of biomass so as to degrade the explosive and make it harmless.

“We have taken that activity from the bacteria and put it in plants with large amounts of biomass. A tree, for instance, is effectively a big pump, seeking out water, and if we can redeploy the enzyme which degrades the explosive making it harmless, it combines the capabilities of soil bacteria with the high biomass and uptake properties in plants,” he said.

He added that the method was sustainable due to its low maintenance and low cost, and had the potential to clean up large areas of contaminated land.

“We are using an enzyme already existing in the soil but putting it into a more efficient machine to biodegrade the RDX. It is a sustainable, low maintenance and low cost process which has the potential to clean up large areas of land in military training ranges or industrial sites,” he said.

The research findings are published in Nature Biotechnology.

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