1
Importance of Duckweeds in Basic
Research and Their Industrial
Applications
Paul Fourounjian, Tamra Fakhoorian and Xuan Hieu Cao
Abstract
The Lemnaceae family, commonly called
duckweeds, is 37 species of the smallest and
simplest flowering plants found floating on
nutrient-rich waters worldwide. Their small
size and rapid clonal growth in aseptic conditions made them a stable and simple model for
plant research especially from 1950 to 1990,
when they were used to study plant physiology
and biochemistry including auxin synthesis
and sulfur metabolism. Duckweed research
then saw a resurgence in 2008 when global
fuel prices rose and the US Department of
Energy funded the sequencing of the Spirodela
polyrhiza genome. This launched not only the
genomic investigations detailed in this book,
but the regrowth of duckweed industrial
applications. Thanks to their ability to quickly
absorb nitrogen, phosphorous, and other nutrients while removing pathogens and growing at
a rate of 13–38 dry tons/hectare year in water
treatment lagoons, scientists are currently
exploring ways that duckweed can convert
agricultural and municipal wastewater into
clean water and a high-protein animal feed.
The potential of these plants for phytoremediation of heavy metals and organic compounds
also allows the possibility to clean the wastewater from heavy industry while providing
biofuels and even plastics. Finally, thanks to
their superb nutritional profile Wolffia species
grown in clean conditions promise to become
one of the healthiest and most environmentally
friendly vegetables. Given the importance of
these incredible plants, it is no wonder
researchers are investigating the genetic mechanisms that make it all possible.
This chapter was revised and significantly expanded
upon, with the guidance of T. F., from the chapter “The
Importance and Potential of Duckweeds as a Model and
Crop Plant for Biomass-Based Applications and
Beyond,” in the Handbook on Environmental Materials
Management, which X. H. C. and P. F. wrote for
Springer Nature a year ago (Cao et al. 2018). We hope
this chapter thoroughly explains non-genomic research
and application topics, especially for those who are
unfamiliar with the family.
P. Fourounjian (&)
Waksman Institute of Microbiology,
Rutgers University, Piscataway 08854, USA
e-mail: pjf99@scarletmail.rutgers.edu
T. Fakhoorian
The International Lemna Association,
Mayfield, KY 42066, USA
X. H. Cao
Institute of Biology/Plant Physiology,
University of Halle-Wittenberg
Martin-Luther-Weinbergweg,
10, 06120 Halle, Germany
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
X. H. Cao et al. (eds.), The Duckweed Genomes, Compendium of Plant Genomes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11045-1_1
1
Importance of Duckweeds in Basic
Research and Their Industrial
Applications
Paul Fourounjian, Tamra Fakhoorian and Xuan Hieu Cao
Abstract
The Lemnaceae family, commonly called
duckweeds, is 37 species of the smallest and
simplest flowering plants found floating on
nutrient-rich waters worldwide. Their small
size and rapid clonal growth in aseptic conditions made them a stable and simple model for
plant research especially from 1950 to 1990,
when they were used to study plant physiology
and biochemistry including auxin synthesis
and sulfur metabolism. Duckweed research
then saw a resurgence in 2008 when global
fuel prices rose and the US Department of
Energy funded the sequencing of the Spirodela
polyrhiza genome. This launched not only the
genomic investigations detailed in this book,
but the regrowth of duckweed industrial
applications. Thanks to their ability to quickly
absorb nitrogen, phosphorous, and other nutrients while removing pathogens and growing at
a rate of 13–38 dry tons/hectare year in water
treatment lagoons, scientists are currently
exploring ways that duckweed can convert
agricultural and municipal wastewater into
clean water and a high-protein animal feed.
The potential of these plants for phytoremediation of heavy metals and organic compounds
also allows the possibility to clean the wastewater from heavy industry while providing
biofuels and even plastics. Finally, thanks to
their superb nutritional profile Wolffia species
grown in clean conditions promise to become
one of the healthiest and most environmentally
friendly vegetables. Given the importance of
these incredible plants, it is no wonder
researchers are investigating the genetic mechanisms that make it all possible.
This chapter was revised and significantly expanded
upon, with the guidance of T. F., from the chapter “The
Importance and Potential of Duckweeds as a Model and
Crop Plant for Biomass-Based Applications and
Beyond,” in the Handbook on Environmental Materials
Management, which X. H. C. and P. F. wrote for
Springer Nature a year ago (Cao et al. 2018). We hope
this chapter thoroughly explains non-genomic research
and application topics, especially for those who are
unfamiliar with the family.
P. Fourounjian (&)
Waksman Institute of Microbiology,
Rutgers University, Piscataway 08854, USA
e-mail: pjf99@scarletmail.rutgers.edu
T. Fakhoorian
The International Lemna Association,
Mayfield, KY 42066, USA
X. H. Cao
Institute of Biology/Plant Physiology,
University of Halle-Wittenberg
Martin-Luther-Weinbergweg,
10, 06120 Halle, Germany
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
X. H. Cao et al. (eds.), The Duckweed Genomes, Compendium of Plant Genomes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11045-1_1
1