This is a very attractive
protocol. The aim is to discover the
best cocktail of microorganisms and mushrooms and inoculate the soils in conjunction
with a willow planting. The end result
is that the contaminating metals are drawn up into the wood as the roots scour
the soils while the mushrooms and microorganisms break down the organic
components. It is a big leg up from a
simple exercise in adding food to the natural soils.
As mentioned, one simply cots
back the wood every year until the soil is safe.
The willow is conveniently
propagated by cutting anyway and that can be done in pots of inoculated soils.
Knowing something of the nature
of many conventional contaminated sites, this will find many obvious targets. However, willow does not necessarily go that
deep, so deeply contaminated sites will need a process of layer removal and retreatment
to complete the project unless just supplying a safe top soil is good enough.
In the meantime, oil refineries
no longer look quite so challenging.
Petroleum-Eating Mushrooms
Released: 11/30/2011 11:30 AM EST
B. Franz Lang and Mohamed Hijri break new ground in environmental
genomics
Newswise — MONTREAL, November 30, 2011 – Take a Petri dish containing
crude petroleum and it will release a strong odor distinctive of the toxins
that make up the fossil fuel. Sprinkle mushroom spores over the Petri dish and
let it sit for two weeks in an incubator, and surprise, the petroleum and its
smell will disappear. “The mushrooms consumed the petroleum!” says Mohamed
Hijri, a professor of biological sciences and researcher at the University of Montreal
Hijri co-directs a project with B. Franz Lang promoting nature as the
number one ally in the fight against contamination. Lang holds the Canada
The recipe is simple. In the spring, we plant willow cuttings at
25-centimeter intervals so the roots dive into the ground and soak up the
degrading contaminants in the timber along with the bacteria. At the end of the
season, we burn the stems and leaves and we are left with a handful of ashes
imprisoning all of the heavy metals that accumulated in the plant cells. Highly
contaminated soil will be cleansed after just a few cycles. “In addition, it’s
beautiful,” says Hijri pointing to a picture of dense vegetation covering
the ground of an old refinery after just three weeks.
Thanks to the collaboration of an oil company from the Montreal
Natural and artificial selection
This is the visible part of the project, which could lead to a breakthrough in soil decontamination. The project is called Improving Bioremediation of Polluted Soils Through Environmental Genomics and it requires time-consuming sampling and fieldwork as well as DNA sequencing of the species in question. The project involves 16 researchers from the
The principle is based on a well-known process in the sector called
phytoremediation that consists in using plant matter for decontamination.
“However, in contaminated soils, it isn’t the plant doing most of the work,”
says Lang. “It’s the microorganisms i.e. the mushrooms and bacteria
accompanying the root. There are thousands of species of microorganisms and our
job is to find the best plant-mushroom-bacteria combinations.”
Botanist Michel Labrecque is overseeing the plant portion of the
project. The willow seems to be one of the leading species at this point given
its rapid growth and premature foliation. In addition, its stem grows even
stronger once it has been cut. Therefore, there is no need to plant new trees
every year. However, the best willow species still needs to be determined.
One of the best in the country
By investing 7.6 million dollars over three years, Genome Canada, Genome Quebec and other partners are expecting concrete results in the soil decontamination market, which is estimated at 30 billion dollars in Canada alone. “The fact that the project ranked second amongst the best projects in the country took us by surprise,” says Lang who is already world renowned in genomics and bioinformatics, and who has been published in the most prestigious publications.
In the new luminous laboratories of the Centre sur la biodiversité,
where Hijri just moved in with his team, everyone is very focused on the
project. Over twenty people have been hired in recent months or will be shortly
to see this project through.
The participation of McGill
University
“At the end of the season, it is here that we will receive the cut
plant matter from our experimental land and analyze it in great detail,” says
Lang surrounded by measuring equipment.
On the second floor of the Center, research agents will work at
sequencing the samples. Robots and high-precision machinery worth hundreds of
thousands of dollars still need to be unpacked, which shouldn’t take long
seeing as investors are expecting results in the near to midterm.”
For Lang, this project is the culminating point of his career. “I was
always closely tied to fundamental research. However, what we’re doing here is
the fruit of the past 25 years of work. This concrete application of science
could never have been possible had I not done fundamental research, and I plan
on letting know our politicians in charge of financing.”
In his laboratory, five people have already been employed for the
project and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to pitching in – he
plans on going into the field and manipulating samples – Lang is seeing to the
transfer of knowledge with the help of Univalor and the Bureau
Recherche-Développement-Valorisation (BRDV). “A task that is very hard for a
researcher to do early in his career,” says Lang.
Already, several companies are knocking on his door and partnership
agreements are in the works. If the project leads to commercial results, Lang
wants the majority of proceeds to go to research at the University
of Montreal and McGill University
The
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