Phytoremediation of Explosives

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University of Modern Sciences Advanced Industrial Bio-processing Laboratory Assignment Phytoremediation of Explosives Recently the environment is being polluted by several contaminants, these contaminants may be deliberate or accidental, and there are even contaminants that have been around since the WWI and WWII. These contaminants are two explosives known as TNT and RDX. Trinitrotoluene has been used heavily during the WWI and unfortunately is still being used by US military and different construction companies worldwide. TNT is known to be a Class I carcinogen and its exposure to humans causes major types of complications like severe anemia and severe hepatitis. Research Department Explosive or Research Department Unknown compound X has been used heavily during WWII and was produced in large quantities by USA and Germany. RDX is less toxic than TNT though it is known to be a potential carcinogen, and its exposure to humans causes gastrointestinal complications and affects the nervous system greatly. Unfortunately these compounds have accumulated in soil and water and their degradation is difficult due to the ring in their chemical compound. Recent studies and research in the field of biotechnology is been carried out to be able to find ways to degrade certain contaminants in the environment without using harsh chemicals or the use of physical ways. One of these studies is known as phytoremediation which is where plants are being able to remediate certain types of contaminants and either uses them as nutrients or is kept within the plant tissue for further degradation. There are plants that can naturally remediate contaminants and there are plants that need to be genetically engineered to remediate these contaminants. To be able to remediate TNT and RDX, a plant needs to be genetically modified with certain genes. To be able to remediate TNT, the

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