Abstract
SummaryPhytoremediation is a green and sustainable alternative to physico‐chemical methods for contaminated soil remediation. One of the flavours of phytoremediation is rhizoremediation, where plant roots stimulate soil microbes to degrade organic contaminants. This approach is particularly interesting as it takes advantage of naturally evolved interaction mechanisms between plant and microorganisms and often results in a complete mineralization of the contaminants (i.e. transformation to water and CO 2). However, many biotic and abiotic factors influence the outcome of this interaction, resulting in variable efficiency of the remediation process. The difficulty to predict precisely the timeframe associated with rhizoremediation leads to low adoption rates of this green technology. Here, we review recent literature related to rhizoremediation, with a particular focus on soil organisms. We then expand on the potential of rhizoremediation to be a model plant‐microbe interaction system for microbiome manipulation studies.
Highlights
Phytoremediation is the use of plants to remediate contaminated environments
Rhizoremediation is the degradation of organic pollutants in the soil zone surrounding the plant roots, usually as a result of the stimulation of the catalytic activities of microorganisms by the plant roots (Pilon-Smits, 2005)
The principle behind rhizoremediation is simple: as the plant roots colonize the contaminated soil, as for any soil, they associate with a subset of the microorganisms present in the soil and stimulate them through the exudation of a variety of organic compounds (Kuiper et al, 2004) (Fig. 1A)
Summary
Phytoremediation is the use of plants to remediate contaminated environments (usually soils, and water). The suitability of the rhizosphere environment for microbial processes related to the degradation of hydrocarbons exposes one of the major pitfalls of rhizoremediation: it only works where plant roots are.
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