Chapter 2
Hairy Roots as a Source
for Phytoremediation
Anil Kumar Moola , P. Balasubramanian, Lakkakula Satish,
Sasanala Shamili, Manikandan Ramesh, T. Senthil Kumar, and
B. D. Ranjitha Kumari
Abstract “Phytoremediation,” application of green plants to process and regulate
the waste materials in soil, water, and the air is an important part of the new field of
ecological engineering. Phytoremediation has been addressed as among the promising and eco-friendly processes for the decontamination of several environmental
pollutants. In recent years, in vitro plant cultures play an important role in the
phytoremediation process. This chapter focuses on the development of hairy root
clones by using Agrobacterium rhizogenes in various plant species and their application in the remediation process. It is well-known that enzymes that are expected to
be necessitated in the detoxifying process of lethal compounds. In view of the ease of
employing this in vitro culture method as a transgenic arena, and interdependent the
huge progress in functional genomics studies, it is required to develop novel hairy
root cultures that capable to express, provoke, and metabolize additional genes in a
greater efficiently under in vitro and in vivo. The present chapter summarized the
differences between how hairy roots are more helpful in converting toxic to nontoxic
forms comparatively with normal roots. This chapter also reports the most up-to-date
achievements of using hairy root cultures in the phytoremediation process. This
information is essential for assessing the feasibility of a remediation process prior to
its filed uptake.
Keywords Hairy roots · Enzymes · Phytoremediation · Agrobacterium rhizogenes
A. K. Moola (*) · T. S. Kumar · B. D. R. Kumari
Department of Botany, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India
P. Balasubramanian
Department of Biotechnology & Medical Engineering, National Institute of Technology,
Rourkela, Odisha, India
L. Satish · S. Shamili
The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of Negev, Beer
Sheva, Israel
M. Ramesh
Department of Biotechnology, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. Aravind et al. (eds.), Strategies and Tools for Pollutant Mitigation,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63575-6_2
29
Hairy Roots as a Source
for Phytoremediation
Anil Kumar Moola , P. Balasubramanian, Lakkakula Satish,
Sasanala Shamili, Manikandan Ramesh, T. Senthil Kumar, and
B. D. Ranjitha Kumari
Abstract “Phytoremediation,” application of green plants to process and regulate
the waste materials in soil, water, and the air is an important part of the new field of
ecological engineering. Phytoremediation has been addressed as among the promising and eco-friendly processes for the decontamination of several environmental
pollutants. In recent years, in vitro plant cultures play an important role in the
phytoremediation process. This chapter focuses on the development of hairy root
clones by using Agrobacterium rhizogenes in various plant species and their application in the remediation process. It is well-known that enzymes that are expected to
be necessitated in the detoxifying process of lethal compounds. In view of the ease of
employing this in vitro culture method as a transgenic arena, and interdependent the
huge progress in functional genomics studies, it is required to develop novel hairy
root cultures that capable to express, provoke, and metabolize additional genes in a
greater efficiently under in vitro and in vivo. The present chapter summarized the
differences between how hairy roots are more helpful in converting toxic to nontoxic
forms comparatively with normal roots. This chapter also reports the most up-to-date
achievements of using hairy root cultures in the phytoremediation process. This
information is essential for assessing the feasibility of a remediation process prior to
its filed uptake.
Keywords Hairy roots · Enzymes · Phytoremediation · Agrobacterium rhizogenes
A. K. Moola (*) · T. S. Kumar · B. D. R. Kumari
Department of Botany, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India
P. Balasubramanian
Department of Biotechnology & Medical Engineering, National Institute of Technology,
Rourkela, Odisha, India
L. Satish · S. Shamili
The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of Negev, Beer
Sheva, Israel
M. Ramesh
Department of Biotechnology, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. Aravind et al. (eds.), Strategies and Tools for Pollutant Mitigation,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63575-6_2
29