Fabricating toluene phytosensor through a signal translator rhizosphere bacterium
H. LEE (1), C. Ryu (2) (1) Korea Research Insititute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, South Korea; (2) Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, South Korea

Synthetic biology is a new field of biological engineering that generates new biological modules and synthesizes novel pathways to reprogram organisms. It is valuable to the development of reporter plants to provide a rapid, low-cost, and in-situ monitoring of environmental hazards and plant diseases. The reporter plants referred to as phytosensor are also useful for the ecological risk assessment of industrial chemicals. We attempted to develop a reporter plant that senses hazardous aromatic compounds such as toluene. Bacterial two-component signal transduction system such as TodST of a rhizosphere bacteria Pseudomonas putida is useful to construct artificial genetic regulatory module for synthetic biology on plant. For developing toluene sensing reporter plant, we exploited root-P. putida interaction. First, we manipulated P. putida KT2440 to produce indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) from Tod T-box-IAA synthesis gene module depending on toluene concentrations through activation of a respond regulator TodT following perception of toluene by TodS receptor (TodST-Tod box-IAA). Secondly, we also generated tobacco plant to elicit RNAi of the magnesium chelatase chlH gene induced by DR5-mediated IAA concentration dependent manner. Collectively, the de-greening phenotype was observed when the plant grow in the toluene contaminated soil with P. putida KT2440 (TodST-Tod box-IAA) in the root. Our results shed light on rhizobacteria-plant root interaction–based phytosensor to detect harmful chemicals in nature.

Abstract Number: P3-79
Session Type: Poster