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Monitoring Phytoremediation Process Using the Green Fluorescent Protein

Award Information
Agency: Department of Energy
Branch: N/A
Contract: DE-FG02-01ER86135
Agency Tracking Number: DE-FG02-01ER86135
Amount: $99,791.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: STTR
Solicitation Topic Code: N/A
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: N/A
Award Year: 2001
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): N/A
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
15100 Enterprise Court Suite 100
Dulles, VA 20151
United States
DUNS: N/A
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 () -
Business Contact
Phone: () -
Research Institution
 Purdue Research Foundation
 
1063 Hovde Hall
West Lafayette, IN 47907
United States

 Nonprofit College or University
Abstract

The removal of pollutant metal ions from water using phytoremediation must be monitored to determine the effectiveness of the process. In particular, a rapid, low cost, in situ method for monitoring metal concentrations in both polluted water and plants is needed to provide the operator of a continuous phytoremediation water purification system with the information required to rotate and replace plants as required, in order to maximize metal ion removal. This project will develop ¿indicator¿ plants, utilizing the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), which, when expressed in either eukaryotic or prokaryotic cells and illuminated with UV light, yields a bright green fluorescence that can be used as a rapid, simple assay for the presence of the protein. If the GFP gene were fused to a metal-regulated-promoter (MRP), the resulting plants would express GFP only in the presence of certain metal ions. These plants could then be used to monitor the concentration of pollutant metal ions in water and possibly soil. The same plants could also act as indicators of water purity, providing in situ monitoring of the purity of the water outflow from a phytoremediation water treatment system. Phase I will clone the MRP from Indian mustard, develop a plant transformation vector containing MRP-GFP constructs, stablize the Agrobacterium-mediated germ-line transformation of Arabidopsis with the MRP-GFP constructs, and characterize the metal-regulated expression of GFP in Arabidopsis transformed with the MRP-GFP constructs

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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