2022, Vol. 10, Issue 1, Part B

author(s)
Jiby John Mathew, Aswathy Nair, Sajeshkumar NK and Prem Jose Vazhacharickal

abstract
Environmental pollution is reaching such great heights that it is a matter of global concern now. A phenomenon called phylloremediation was observed in plants, especially the ones that grow in polluted areas. Usually, plants growing in polluted areas themselves develop mechanisms to reduce the harmful pollutants in the surrounding to less harmful substances. This is done by the leaves and the microbes associated with the leaves either on their surface or inside the leaves. This project aims to analyze the phylloremediation capability in collected leaf samples from Mangifera indica growing in hydrocarbon polluted areas and to understand the various microbes associated with the leaves which are responsible for the degradation of air pollutants, the mechanisms involved and the genes or gene clusters which are responsible for this phenomenon. The procedure includes isolation of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria from leaf samples, followed by its DNA and plasmid isolations, sequencing, and comparison with known gene sequences in databases using BLAST analysis. The whole process could be further enhanced by genetically engineering the selected microbe. Various genes that are already found to produce certain enzymes which can degrade one or more pollutants can be introduced into our selected organism’s genome to improve the phylloremediation capability.