Abstract
The phenylurea herbicides are used to control annual and perennial weeds on crop cultivating fields. The excessive usage of these agrochemicals increase many environmental problems. Thus, engineering transgenic plant for herbicide metabolism can provide efficient and eco-friendly means for enhanced phytoremediation capacity. Cytochrome P450 enzymes comprise one of the major plant enzyme families that mediate the oxidative degradation of xenobiotic chemicals, including herbicides. Considering these notions, phytoremediation properties of transgenic ginseng-derived PgCYP76B93 in Arabidopsis to phenylurea herbicides were assessed. Phylogenetic tree of PgCYP76B93 clustered in between close to the herbicide metabolism-related enzyme families and terpenoid biosynthesis-related. The expression of PgCYP76B93 was considerably upregulated upon treatment with phenylurea herbicide, chlorotoluron. Simulated docking using Autodoc program predicted possible interaction with chlorotoluron. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing PgCYP76B93 were resulted in slightly reduced plant height with relatively small leaves. The lower plant height in the PgCYP76B93-overexpressing line than in the control revealed that it was linked to the expression of gibberellin oxidases (GAox). The bioassay of transgenic plants growing on herbicide-containing media revealed enhanced resistance against chlorotoluron.